Posted on May 22, 2023
Once 'paradise,' parched Colorado valley grapples with arsenic in water
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https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/22/ [login to see] /risky-arsenic-levels-scarce-water-colorado-san-luis-valley
When John Mestas' ancestors moved to Colorado over 100 years ago to raise sheep in the San Luis Valley, they "hit paradise," he says.
"There was so much water, they thought it would never end," Mestas says of the agricultural region at the headwaters of the Rio Grande.
Now decades of climate change-driven drought, combined with the overpumping of aquifers, is making the valley desperately dry — and appears to be intensifying the levels of heavy metals in drinking water.
Like a third of people who live in this high alpine desert, Mestas relies on a private well that draws from an aquifer for drinking water. And, like many farmers there, he taps an aquifer to water the alfalfa that feeds his 550 cows.
"Water is everything here," he says.
Mestas, 71, is now one of the hundreds of well owners participating in a study that tackles the question: How does drought affect not just the quantity, but the quality, of water?
When John Mestas' ancestors moved to Colorado over 100 years ago to raise sheep in the San Luis Valley, they "hit paradise," he says.
"There was so much water, they thought it would never end," Mestas says of the agricultural region at the headwaters of the Rio Grande.
Now decades of climate change-driven drought, combined with the overpumping of aquifers, is making the valley desperately dry — and appears to be intensifying the levels of heavy metals in drinking water.
Like a third of people who live in this high alpine desert, Mestas relies on a private well that draws from an aquifer for drinking water. And, like many farmers there, he taps an aquifer to water the alfalfa that feeds his 550 cows.
"Water is everything here," he says.
Mestas, 71, is now one of the hundreds of well owners participating in a study that tackles the question: How does drought affect not just the quantity, but the quality, of water?
Once 'paradise,' parched Colorado valley grapples with arsenic in water
Posted from npr.org
Water
Climate Change
Hazmat
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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My first encounter with sheep men occured when I was about 15. Anyone in those days knew it didn't take too many of the animals long to overgraze the land. They would eat down into the roots of the plants ending any possibility for regrowth. That means the watershed is gone as well.
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I have maintained for a long time now that water, usable water, was going to become the major issue is the survival of our species. (as well as any other life form)
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