Skies Remain Dangerously Blue

Jerome is a small town . . . its population somewhere under 500 . . . and it's forms of communication with its residents  borders on colloquial.  A sign in the post office asked residents to please conserve water because the overflow from storage tanks was running only intermittently.  When I drove past yesterday the overflow was dry.

Jerome is an old copper mining community that once boasted a population of 15,000.  With a current population of only 400-plus
the town is experiencing the initial indications of a water crisis.

Jerome's water comes from an aquifer beneath Cleopatra Hill, captured in 3 water storage tanks and gravity fed to the town below.  The aquifer is replenished by precipitation.

In the last 6 weeks there has been about 1/8 inch of rain, hardly enough to reach the aquifer let alone replenish it.  As I've said in previous posts, if you want to see what the desert will support, "Just look out your backdoor."  It isn't much, yet the tree planting, car washing, and yard/garden watering go unabated.

This on 3 - 10 inches of rain annually.

Has the Aquifer Run Dry?

In a recent news note in the VerdeNews.com, Tom Whitmer of Cottonwood, Arizona, had been nominated for a position on the Technical Advisory Committee with the Yavapai County Water Advisory Committee.

Photos taken from verdenews.com

His nomination was questioned by Doug Von Gaussig because Mr. Whitmer serves on the board of that organization and the conflict of interest was all too apparent . . . especially with respect to an appointee who would, in effect, report to himself.


I congratulate Mr Von Gaussig whose foresight has otherwise addressed many of his communities difficult problems.


I would like to see either principal in this local scuffle, begin to answer Jerome, Arizona's, water difficulties.
  
Here in this ex-mining, tourist town we drink from an aquifer via a couple of large storage tanks.  But the overflow from these tanks has stopped...which means that 1.) the tanks aren't full or 2.) the aquifer has stopped charging the tanks. 


We've had little rain, the Verde River is at record lows and a Jerome town council member is talking about the installation of water meters.  What if there just ain't any water?

Arizona's BP Disaster

Many people are appalled at the British Petroleum oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Remains of Mining in Jerome

The death of human and aquatic life has been vast.
With the probable death of the fishing industry in the coastal regions of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama the impact on people's livelihood is projected to be equally as bad.
But, closer to home . . . 
What difference is there between the BP spill in the Gulf and the devastation of mining operations in the state of Arizona?
Because of its mining heritage, Jerome has become a tourist attraction.
But, also, typical of the boom/bust economy of mining, the mines closed in 1953 and the population dropped from a high of 15,000 to a low of 350 today.
What has been left behind?
Note, in the photo above, nothing has grown on the mine waste in nearly 60 years.
Why?
And what has happened to the poisonous compounds that have leeched through the waste and possibly into the groundwater aquifer below?