Here is a link to the article (there are many — just do a search): http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2008/02/14/news/20080214_front%20page_13.txt

Now I don’t know whether this story is true or not, but what always strikes me are the inevitable refutes that occur to pretty much any study. From the article:

But Larry Dozier, deputy general manager at the Central Arizona Project, which supplies Colorado River water to the Phoenix and Tucson areas, called the Scripps study “absurd.”
“I think they must have made some pretty outrageous assumptions to come up with some outrageous conclusions,” he said. He said his agency’s own study of the water levels in the two lakes showed they were in no danger of drying up.

Someone has to be right, right? I don’t understand how the two studies can be done that come to completely opposite conclusions.

But it happens all of the time.

Global warming is the biggest showcase of this “contradictory phenomenon” that I know of. A gazillion scientists have done studies and say it exists, humans contribute to it, etc. But there are scientists who have done studies who say that it does not exist, and it is a result of the normal course of Earth’s being. I don’t know for sure whether global warming exists or not, as I have not done any studies for myself. I tend to believe that something funny is going on, but I could not give you certainty. But, again, I don’t understand how supposedly reputable experts in a given field can come up with polar opposite conclusions on a given study.

This type of thing happens with economic data, military data, etc. It is just baffling to me.

I am, at heart, an engineer/scientist type. So I guess I can attribute this to the scientific method — which allows for studies to draw different conclusions. But I just don’t know if I am willing to take that leap yet. Something more goes on with these types of studies, and I believe it has to do with politics for the most part — which is sort of sad because it would be nice to know the truth on these and other important issues.