Fronteras

AUSTIN, Texas — Fronteras Desk reporter Lorne Matalon spoke to Dr. Michael Webber, deputy director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. Webber is a prolific author, having written hundreds of scientific articles, columns and books including op-eds in The New York Times and features in Scientific American.

The topic is the link between energy and water, how stresses on one can damage the other and what solutions exist to ease stresses on water and power in the Southwest. Webber explores the connection between water and energy in his latest book titled, "Thirst for Power: Energy, Water and Human Survival."

Webber cites examples such as Elephant Butte Dam in New Mexico, now marking its 100th year of operation providing water to New Mexico and Texas but also the subject of what appears to be a pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling and legal disputes involving both states — and two countries, the United States and Mexico — as populations grow. Construction of the dam created New Mexico's largest reservoir that provides both flood control for the lower Rio Grande and irrigation water to approximately 180,000 acres of farmland throughout the region.

The conversation also covers issues stressing Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S. serving 20 million people. The lake, near Las Vegas, Nevada, turns turbines at the Hoover Dam. The dam in turn supplies power to across the Southwest and into California to cities such as Los Angeles. The lake's water level is low, approximately 37 percent full, to the point that delivery of power cities and towns across the southwest risks the possibility of being compromised. Webber posits that water loss can be mitigated in some instances and he provides templates for solutions that are available now.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Fronteras Desk reporter Lorne Matalon is the 2016-17 Energy Journalism Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute and KBH Center for Energy, Law and Business.