Friday Top of the Scroll: A painful deadline nears as Colorado River reservoirs run critically low
States in the Colorado River basin are scrambling to propose steep cuts in the water they’ll use from the river next year, in response to a call by the federal government for immediate, drastic efforts to keep the river’s main storage reservoirs from reaching critically low levels. The request comes with the Southwest still in the grip of a severe two-decade drought that shows no signs of letting up…. [E]xperts in Western water issues writing Thursday in the journal Science say significant policy changes could stabilize the river over the long term, even if the drought continues. But concessions that “may be unthinkable at the moment” must be implemented soon, they wrote.
Related articles:
- Courthouse News Service: Proportionate limits may float Colorado River users through water crisis
- AZ Big Media: Stanton introduces $500M plan to protect Colorado River
- Los Angeles Times: Dramatic NASA photos reveal Lake Mead water levels at lowest point since 1937
- WION: America’s largest reservoir Lake Mead is 73% empty. NASA shares stark pictures
- Arizona Public Media: What will Arizona do as its share of Colorado River water diminishes?
- Daily Beast: My Western Road Trip Turned Into the Apocalypse
- Western Farm Press: Arizona – Where will a growing economy get its water?