‘Dead Without Water’: Massive Desert Solar Projects Are Sucking Up Groundwater, Angering Locals
Story by Nick Pope • Yesterday 12:41 PM
Massive solar development projects in Southern California have strained local water availability, threatening desert ecosystems and angering residents who have been impacted by the strain on the water supply, according to an Inside Climate News report.
The small communities around Desert Center, California, depend on naturally-occurring underground water reserves, known as groundwater aquifers, but the water-intensive development process for large solar projects has caused groundwater levels to fall, according to Inside Climate News. Crucial local water wells have dried up and land beneath homes has sagged as a result of development activity, while desert ecosystems have been damaged as well, according to Inside Climate News.
Locals complain that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the corporations driving the developments in California’s Colorado Desert have not allowed them to provide sufficient input in the decision-making process for the developments, according to Inside Climate News. Despite the BLM’s assurances that “renewable energy development on BLM-managed public lands will continue to help communities across the country be part of the climate solution, while creating jobs and boosting local economies,” residents say that they have not reaped much benefit from the solar projects while the strain on their groundwater supply has intensified, according to Inside Climate News.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dead-without-water-massive-desert-solar-projects-are-sucking-up-groundwater-angering-locals/ar-AA1d7w1p?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=45f9d0955fbc4792b21748a7d5899fe8&ei=49
