Global Warming Causes Water Shortage in El Paso

Warming, in the sense of not enough warmth...

Water shortage grips city

...El Paso Mayor John Cook declared a water emergency on Sunday after a winter storm caused several water lines to break, which caused the water levels in the city's reservoirs to drop. The shortage caused schools to close, car washes and other businesses to shut down and authorities to mandate that residents curb water use for a third day...

...EPWU officials said problems began last week when freezing temperatures helped spawn the rolling electricity blackouts. The blackouts shut down well pumps and damaged control equipment for wells, reservoirs and booster stations. El Paso Electric spokeswoman Teresa Souza said the rolling power outages ended Friday and EPEC's local generation plants were working, though some repairs were continuing...

...In the days after the chill, there were thousands of pipe leaks at homes, businesses and other buildings as frozen water pipes thawed. Residents also began washing clothes and vehicles and doing other water- using tasks they had delayed because of the cold weather and blackouts. Officials said EPWU pumped 115 million gallons of water into its system Saturday compared with 71 million gallons pumped on a normal winter day. It was unknown how much of that water was due to broken or leaking pipes...

Our own tiny water system here is affected by cold weather in similar ways.  In the month of December, the crew for the water co-op averaged a leak a day in a system that serves 800 homes.