Wednesday’s Top of the Scroll: Reclamation Commissioner Testifies Before Senate Subcommittee on Colorado River Basin Study
From the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Mid-Pacific Region website:
Michael L. Connor, commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Department of the Interior, testified July 16 before the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Water and Power on the “Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study.”
An excerpt from his statement: “Today the Colorado River is facing a record drought. The period from 2000 to 2013 is shaping up to be the lowest 14-year period in the over 100-year historical record for the Colorado River. Tree-ring reconstructions of streamflow indicate that the current 14-year period, which began in 2000, is one of the lowest in the Basin in over 1,200 years.
“The challenges and complexities of ensuring a sustainable water supply and meeting future demand in the over-allocated and highly variable Colorado River has been recognized and documented by Reclamation and the Basin States of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming for decades.
“Looking ahead, concerns regarding the reliability of the Colorado River system to meet water deliveries, power generation, environmental and recreational needs are even greater, given the likelihood of increasing demand for water and projections of reduced supply due to climate change.”
Read the transcript of his statement
Learn more about the Colorado River from Water Education Foundation’s Aquapedia