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Topic: Colorado River

Overview April 24, 2014

Colorado River

Colorado RiverServing as the “lifeline of the Southwest,” and one of the most heavily regulated rivers in the world, the Colorado River provides water to 35 million people and more than 4 million acres of farmland in a region encompassing some 246,000 square miles.

From its headwaters northwest of Denver in the Rocky Mountains, the 1,450-mile long river and its tributaries pass through parts of seven states: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico,  Nevada, Utah and Wyoming and is also used by the Republic of Mexico. Along the way, almost every drop of the Colorado River is allocated for use.

The Colorado River Basin is also home to a range of habitats and ecosystems from mountain to desert to ocean.

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Aquafornia news April 15, 2021 The Washington Post

Biden picks energy lawyer Tommy Beaudreau as Interior Department’s No. 2 official

President Biden announced Wednesday that he will nominate Tommy Beaudreau to be deputy secretary of the Interior Department, ending a standoff between the White House and senators from fossil-fuel-rich states who derailed the president’s first choice. The selection of Beaudreau, an energy lawyer who was an Obama administration official, came after Sens. Joe Manchin III (D-W. V.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) objected to Elizabeth Klein because of her past stance against fossil fuels.

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Aquafornia news April 15, 2021 Havasu News

Southern California leans on more Colorado River water to combat record dry season

Southern California, like most of the West, is in the middle of a record dry season. To combat it and keep the metropolitan area well-watered, they’re relying more heavily on the Colorado River, with water pumped directly from the south end of Lake Havasu. Last Wednesday, the Metropolitan Water District began pumping from Lake Havasu at full capacity for the first time in years, drawing water from the Whitsett Intake Pumping Plant located just north of the Parker Dam. The eight-pump flow is equivalent to about 3,000 acre feet of water being pumped per day, according to MWD Manager of Colorado River Resources Bill Hasencamp.

Related articles:

  • CalMatters: 5 things you need to know about federal drought aid in California
  • North Bay Business Journal: Santa Rosa cuts back recycled water allocations to agriculture by two-thirds
  • Fox13: Lake Powell could hit near-record lows from drought
  • Kiowa County Press: Drought continues to plague Colorado raising concerns about ag water supplies
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Aquafornia news April 15, 2021 Water Education Colorado

Blog: Colorado launches major new series of stream protections

Advocates, such as the Colorado Water Trust, a nonprofit that spearheaded the new approach, say the tools can be used as templates across other river basins, where older water rights are already spoken for. … Across Colorado nearly 40,000 miles of streams flow year-round and, as a result, have the potential to receive protection under the state’s Instream Flow Program. 

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Aquafornia news April 15, 2021 U.S. Department of the Interior

News release: White House announces several nominations to Interior leadership, including Tanya Trujillo as Assistant Secretary for Water and Science

The White House announced the intent to nominate several officials to serve at the Department of the Interior, including Tanya Trujillo as Assistant Secretary for Water and Science. Trujillo is a water lawyer with more than 20 years of experience working on complex natural resources management issues and interstate and transboundary water agreements. She most recently worked as a project director with the Colorado River Sustainability Campaign. Before then, she served as the Executive Director of the Colorado River Board of California.

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Aquafornia news April 14, 2021 Voice of San Diego

Controversial project is becoming a pipeline in the sand for local water agencies

The San Diego County Water Authority is no stranger to conflict – virtually all of its dealings over the past decade have been shaped by its feud with the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Now that feud is fueling fights within the agency itself.

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Aquafornia news April 14, 2021 Arizona Public Media

Podcast: Updating the status for water from the Colorado River

The Colorado River is one of the most highly developed surface water systems in the world, but demand for the river’s water continues to exceed supply. University of Arizona geosciences professor Connie Woodhouse discusses the impact of a warming climate on the Colorado River. She is the featured speaker for the annual College of Science lecture series April 15. Connie Woodhouse spoke with Leslie Tolbert, Regent’s professor emerita in Neuroscience at the University of Arizona.

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Aquafornia news April 14, 2021 Imperial Valley Press

IID decides to stand pat on Abatti’s Supreme Court petition

Imperial Irrigation District apparently has decided not to sweat Michael Abatti’s decision to appeal his case against the district to the nation’s highest court. IID announced Monday it will not file a response to Abatti’s petition to the U.S. Supreme Court over his ongoing legal dispute with the district over water rights. The exception would be if the court requests a response. IID General Counsel Frank Oswalt said in a press release that a response is unnecessary.

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Aquafornia news April 13, 2021 KOLD News 13

Extreme conditions now sparking drought contingency plan for first time

Extreme drought conditions throughout the West are lowering levels in the crucial water reservoir, Lake Mead. Scars of long years of low precipitation are hard to go unnoticed at Lake Mead, and the hot, dry summers have been felt for the last several years in Arizona. 2020 was especially dry, with little monsoon. Now, the West is in uncharted territory. Lake Mead is projected to drop by several feet this year, from elevation 1,083 to about 1,068, according to officials with the Central Arizona Project. The lake is hovering around 39 percent of its full capacity.

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Aquafornia news April 13, 2021 New Mexico In Depth

A century of federal indifference left generations of Navajo homes without running water

[T]he 800 to 900 people in Tohatchi, and another 600 to 800 in Mexican Springs, eight miles to the west, all depend on a single well and single pump. If the pump running it fails, or if the water level in it drops — both issues that have troubled nearby Gallup this year — water will cut out for the homes, the head-start center, the schools, the clinic, the senior center, five churches, and the convenience store and gas station. … [T]he Navajo Nation has waited more than a century for pipes and water treatment plants that would bring drinking water to all of its people while watching nearby off-reservation cities and farms grow, swallowing up water from the Colorado River Basin that the tribe has a claim to.

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Aquafornia news April 12, 2021 KTLA

Las Vegas pushes to become first to ban ornamental grass in water conservation move

A desert city built on a reputation for excess and indulgence wants to become a model for restraint and conservation with a first-in-the-nation policy banning grass that nobody walks on. Las Vegas-area water officials have spent two decades trying to get people to replace thirsty greenery with desert plants, and now they’re asking the Nevada Legislature to outlaw roughly 40% of the turf that’s left. The Southern Nevada Water Authority estimates there are almost 8 square miles (21 square kilometers) of “nonfunctional turf” in the metro area — grass that no one ever walks on or otherwise uses in street medians, housing developments and office parks.

Related article:

  • Las Vegas Review-Journal: With water shortage likely, SNWA targets decorative grass​
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Aquafornia news April 9, 2021 ABC10 

California slips further into drought status

The state is slipping further into more serious levels of drought as it enters the second year for dry conditions and the records the third driest rainy season on record. The US Drought Monitor has downgraded areas in far Northern California, the Central Coast, and Southern California to reflect recent drought data. The top level “Exceptional” (D4) drought remains at 5% in the Owens Valley and Mohave Desert. Extreme (D3) drought now covers 35% of the state, an increase from 32% last week. Most of the direct impacts from various stages of more severe drought impact agriculture and grazing areas. Many areas have only seen 50% of normal rain or less. Areas that receive snow have seen well below average snowpack levels.

Related articles: 

  • KSRO: Calistoga Moves Towards Water Conservation As State Grapples With The Issue 
  • Fresno Bee: California Legislation Would Help Drought-stressed Farmers
  • Agri-Pulse: Newsom is not declaring a drought emergency
  • Hanford Sentinel: Hurtado seeks district ideas to shape response to drought​
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Aquafornia news April 9, 2021 Inside Climate News

In the West, signs in the snow warn that a 20-year drought will persist and intensify

Lack of monsoon rainfall last summer and spotty snowfall this winter combined to worsen the Western drought dramatically in the past year, and spring snowmelt won’t bring much relief. Critical April 1 measurements of snow accumulations from mountain ranges across the region show that most streams and rivers will once again flow well below average levels this year, stressing ecosystems and farms and depleting key reservoirs that are already at dangerously low levels.  As the climate warms, it’s likely that drought conditions will worsen and persist across much of the West. Dry spells between downpours and blizzards are getting longer, and snowpack in the mountains is starting to melt during winter, new research shows. 

Related articles: 

  • Tucson.com: The drought’s getting worse, particularly in the Southwest, says new study​
  • Durango Herald: Water supply, wildfire concerns loom over spring, summer
  • Aspen Journalism: Drought and dry soils again will diminish Colorado’s spring runoff
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Aquafornia news April 9, 2021 Desert Sun

California appoints analyst to study Salton Sea water importation

California remains far behind its targets for addressing exposed playa around the Salton Sea, according to data released in the 2021 Salton Sea Management Program annual report. But state officials expressed optimism in a public workshop that they are finally beginning to catch up to those goals. The state was supposed to implement dust suppression projects or build wetlands habitat across 3,500 acres of exposed playa by the end of 2020 to tamp down dust that’s imbued with a century’s worth of salts, pesticides and other agricultural runoff. 

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Aquafornia news April 8, 2021 Deseret News

Utah’s Great Salt Lake is drying up. That’s bad for economy, public health

If you skip a rock across the surface of the Great Salt Lake, it will skim and ricochet across the far-reaching, glassy face for what seems like a mile. It’s as if the waters were never introduced to the laws of gravity. Or if they were, it didn’t matter. The lake’s salinity — and in turn, its density — has increased since the mid-1800s. Today, the tourmaline-colored water in the north arm is eight times saltier than the ocean. Rocks, those daring enough to swim and reflections of flushed sunsets are held at the surface of the water — suspended and unable to be lost. But in a cruel illustration of irony, we are losing those waters. As historian Dale Morgan put it in 1947, “It is a lake of paradoxes.” Today, the Great Salt Lake’s volume has dropped nearly 50%. The largest saline lake in the Western Hemisphere is drying up.

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Aquafornia news April 8, 2021 BBC News

The water fight over the shrinking Colorado River

Scientists have been predicting for years that the Colorado River would continue to deplete due to global warming and increased water demands, but according to new studies it’s looking worse than they thought. That worries rancher Marsha Daughenbaugh, 68, of Steamboat Springs, who relies on the water from the Colorado River to grow feed for her cattle. … Recent reports show that the river’s water flows were down 20% in 2000 and by 2050 that number is estimated to more than double.

Related article:

  • Las Vegas Sun: Editorial – Any serious water conservation solution deserves to be considered in Las Vegas 
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Aquafornia news April 8, 2021 Associated Press

Study: Climate change has made rainstorms more erratic, droughts much longer in U.S. West

Rainstorms grew more erratic and droughts much longer across most of the U.S. West over the past half-century as climate change warmed the planet, according to a sweeping government study released Tuesday that concludes the situation is worsening. The most dramatic changes were recorded in the desert Southwest, where the average dry period between rainstorms grew from about 30 days in the 1970s to 45 days between storms now, said Joel Biederman, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Southwest Watershed Research Center in Tucson, Arizona.

Related article:

  • Phys.org: Colorado River basin due for more frequent, intense hydroclimate events
  • USDA: Droughts Longer, Rainfall More Erratic Over the Last Five Decades in Most of the West​
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Aquafornia news April 8, 2021 Water Education Colorado

Blog: After Clean Water Act setback, state to ask lawmakers for new authority

For the second time in less than a year, state health officials plan to ask lawmakers to fast-track permitting authority over hundreds of miles of streams left unprotected after a 2020 Trump Administration rollback of federal Clean Water Act rules. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment’s move comes just weeks after a federal court denied Colorado’s effort to prevent the new federal rules from taking effect.

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Aquafornia news April 8, 2021 Water Education Foundation

Announcement: Explore California’s water basics & the lifeblood of the Southwest during upcoming virtual events

Our two-day Water 101 Workshop begins on Earth Day, when you can gain a deeper understanding of California’s most precious natural resource. One of our most popular events, the once-a-year workshop will be held as an engaging online event on the afternoons of Thursday, April 22 and Friday, April 23. California’s water basics will be covered by some of the state’s leading policy and legal experts, including the history, geography, legal and political facets of water in the state, as well a look at hot topics and current issues of concern.

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Aquafornia news April 7, 2021 Havasu News

Colorado River Indian Tribes will get $209K to stop water loss from irrigation canals

The Colorado River Indian Tribes will receive $209,000 for irrigation canal projects, Congressman Paul Gosar announced Tuesday. The federal funds were awarded by the U.S. Department of the Interior to help CRIT pay for canal lining. The project is intended to help stop water seepage from the canal. CRIT relies on the Colorado River as its primary source of water, and water conserved with help the Tribes meet existing demand during times of drought, Gosar said. The project will line nearly 4,000 feet of the earthen canal with a membrane covered in sprayed concrete. The stretch of canal has been identified as having the most significant seepage rate of all 232 miles of canals in the Colorado River Irrigation Project, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.

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Aquafornia news April 7, 2021 Colorado State University

New research: Trees have unexpected impacts on water use in northern Colorado

Colorado’s water supply is under threat from climate change and population growth. Limiting outdoor use is an increasingly popular approach to conserving water, yet to implement effective conservation policies, utilities managers need a better understanding of local outdoor water consumption. … [Colorado State University’s Melissa McHale] said trees can provide long-term benefits even if they need to be watered directly when they are first planted. … The research team found that residential properties with a higher ratio of vegetation cover to lot size tended toward less water consumption. 

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Aquafornia news April 7, 2021 The Associated Press

Vegas water agency asks lawmakers to ban ornamental grass

Las Vegas water officials want state lawmakers to require the removal of thirsty grass landscaping that isn’t used for recreation. Southern Nevada Water Authority lobbyist Andy Belanger told lawmakers Monday that climate change and growth in the Las Vegas area would require communities to take more significant measures to conserve water. The agency estimates that more than 5,000 acres of “nonfunctional turf” — grass not used for recreational activities like golf, youth sports or dog-walking — is spread throughout the region.

Related article:

  • Las Vegas Sun: Las Vegas water official says state should ban ‘unused turf’
  • KLAS: SNWA wants Nevada legislature to consider legislation to remove all unused turf throughout the Las Vegas valley ​
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Aquafornia news April 6, 2021 Arizona Republic

As Colorado River drought deepens, Arizona prepares for water cutbacks

Unrelenting drought and years of rising temperatures due to climate change are pushing the long-overallocated Colorado River into new territory, setting the stage for the largest mandatory water cutbacks to date. Lake Mead, the biggest reservoir on the river, has declined dramatically over the past two decades and now stands at just 40% of its full capacity. This summer, it’s projected to fall to the lowest levels since it was filled in the 1930s following the construction of Hoover Dam. The reservoir near Las Vegas is approaching a threshold that is expected to trigger a first-ever shortage declaration by the federal government for next year, leading to substantial cuts in water deliveries to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.

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Aquafornia news April 6, 2021 The Daily Beast

The next time you’re out West, you might see clouds on steroids

The idea of cloud seeding and weather modification has been around since 1940. There were federally funded programs in the 1960s—one named Project Skywater that ultimately had mixed results. In the 1970s and 1980s, the US government began experimenting on how weather modification could be used as a war tool. But outside of ski resorts like Vail, where the technology is used to help increase snow during snowstorms, interest in cloud seeding largely dropped off. … According to the North American Weather Modification Council, there are currently several projects being run in California, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Utah, among other states with a project here or there.

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Aquafornia news April 5, 2021 The Weather Network

Another California drought in 2021 is possible, along with more wildfires

It was in 2016 that the state of California declared a four-year drought had finally come to an end. Now, in 2021, it could be entering another very dry season. It is in the winter season that folks on the West Coast welcome dreary days packed with cloud and rain. California usually sees the most rain and snow in the month of February. This year, however, was different: It was quite dry all of the winter season, and we can blame La Niña for this pattern. … Thirty per cent of California’s water supply comes from the snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges and only 57 per cent of normal precipitation has fallen this season. This, coupled with lower than average snowpack for 2020 as well, could spell trouble down the road when it comes to water supply.

Related articles:

  • Santa Rosa Press Democrat: North Bay braces for water cuts with reservoirs at record lows after second dry winter
  • Times of San Diego: Latest snowpack measurements indicate ‘critically dry year’ ahead for California
  • 23ABC News: Annual survey shows 2021 water levels are near historic lows
  • Los Angeles Times: Opinion: California Senate leader’s plan to avoid drought crisis
  • Capital Press: Drought emergency declared in Klamath County
  • SF Gate: Before-and-after photos of California reservoirs show looming drought 
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 5, 2021 Colorado Public Radio

Colorado’s snowpack was almost normal this winter, but it may not be enough water for the year

The blizzard that dumped snow along the Front Range in March helped Colorado nearly reach its average snowpack for the winter, federal data shows. But last year’s historically dry weather means that streams are likely to run lower than normal, potentially restricting the amount of water some consumers can use, experts said… Areas east of the Continental Divide had above average snowpack, but the Colorado River Basin on the west was below average….

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Aquafornia news April 5, 2021 Colorado Politics

Judge tosses challenge from environmental groups to halt Denver Water reservoir expansion

A federal judge has thrown out a legal action from multiple environmental organizations seeking to halt the expansion of a key Denver Water storage facility, citing no legal authority to address the challenge. … The expansion of Gross Reservoir in Boulder County is intended to provide additional water storage and safeguard against future shortfalls during droughts. The utility currently serves customers in Denver, Jefferson, Arapahoe, Douglas and Adams counties. In July 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave its approval for the design and construction of the reservoir’s expansion. The project would add 77,000 acre-feet of water storage and 131 feet to the dam’s height for the utility’s “North System” of water delivery.

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Aquafornia news April 5, 2021 The Associated Press

Agencies: Arizona farmers should expect less water in 2022

State officials are putting farmers in south-central Arizona on notice that the continuing drought means a “substantial cut” in deliveries of Colorado River water is expected next year. A joint statement issued Friday by the state Department of Water Resources and the Central Arizona Project said an expected shortage declaration “will result in a substantial cut to Arizona’s share of the river, with reductions falling largely to central Arizona agricultural users.” The Central Arizona Project is an aqueduct system that delivers Colorado River water to users in central Arizona and southern Arizona, including farmers, cities and tribes.

Related article:

  • The Guardian: Meet Arizona’s water one-percenters 
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news April 2, 2021 The Times-Independent

State: Moab could safely use more water

Preliminary estimates from Utah’s Division of Water Rights show that the Spanish Valley Watershed, which includes Moab, can safely withdraw 50-100% more water than it currently uses each year. The range of uncertainty in part has to do with the difficulties that come with accounting for groundwater and in part from the range of possibilities in how much climate change affects water availability in the valley. State Engineer Teresa Wilhelmsen praised research by the U.S. Geological Survey that she said “provides a wealth of information on movement of water between the various components of the aquifer system” in Moab.

Related article: 

  • Deseret News: Baby, it’s dry outside: How the drought is affecting Utah
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Aquafornia news April 2, 2021 The Desert Sun

Michael Abatti asks U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case against IID

The fight between Imperial Valley farmer Michael Abatti and the Imperial Irrigation District over control of the district’s massive allotment of Colorado River water could be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court if Abatti gets his way. He and his lawyers have announced that they have petitioned the nation’s highest court to take up the litigation that has dragged on since 2013….Abatti is seeking to have the country’s apex court hand control of IID’s water over to landowners, a move that would leave most of the valley’s water with a few larger agricultural operations.

Related article:

  • Desert Review: Abatti files Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the US Supreme Court regarding landowners’ water rights
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Aquafornia news April 1, 2021 KAWC

When water is scarce, some researchers go underground to find out why

When it comes to water in the West, a lot of it is visible. Snow stacks up high in the mountains then eventually melts and flows down into valleys. It’s easy to see how heavy rains and rushing rivers translate into an abundance of available water. But another important factor of water availability is much harder to see. Beneath the surface, the amount of moisture held in the ground can play a big role in how much water makes it down to rivers and reservoirs – and eventually into the pipes that feed homes and businesses. Elise Osenga is a community science manager for the Aspen Global Change Institute – a nonprofit focused on expanding scientific understanding of climate change. 

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Aquafornia news April 1, 2021 Western Slope Now

2020 Drought: One of the worst in Colorado history

Local water providers say the current drought is one of the worst in Colorado history. Mesa County ranges from extreme drought to exceptional drought in areas and it doesn’t appear to be improving anytime soon. Below average spring runoff is anticipated by local water providers as watersheds are working to be replenished after last year’s drought. … The wildfires in the Colorado River basin last summer have scarred significant portions of the Colorado River which may result in debris, ash, and dense mud flowing into the Colorado River watershed, which will impact water quality for many water entities in Mesa County.

Related articles: 

  • Fox31 2 News: Winter’s snowpack runoff does not look promising
  • The Daily Sentinel: Water conservation urged amid continuing drought
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news April 1, 2021 Arizona Public Media

No movement on groundwater protection bills

Arizona’s 1980 Groundwater Management Act established pumping regulations in the state’s most populous areas but set no such limits on rural parts of the state. In recent years, some rural areas have come under increased pressure from agricultural pumping that has dropped groundwater levels dramatically. … Lawmakers introduced several bills in the current legislative session to regulate or provide more options for managing the state’s groundwater. One would have banned most new wells in the Upper San Pedro and Verde Valley river basins. Another would have set spacing limits for new wells in areas that are overdrawn. Another, introduced by Rep. Regina Cobb of Kingman, would have given county supervisors the power to establish groundwater limits or regulations in their area. 

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Aquafornia news April 1, 2021 Holtville Tribune

Abatti files petition with U.S. Supreme Court

Imperial Valley grower, landowner, and former elected official Michael Abatti has filed a petition for “writ of certiorari” with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking review of the California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District’s decision in Abatti v. Imperial Irrigation District, according to a press release from Abatti and his legal team. Michael Abatti, Imperial County farmer Abatti is seeking to overturn a previous appellate court ruling that asserts Imperial Irrigation District is the “sole owner” of water rights in the Valley, and farmers do “not (have) an appurtenant water right” but rather are entitled merely to “water service” that is subject to modification by the district at its discretion, the press release states.

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Aquafornia news March 30, 2021 KUNC

Colorado River tribes aim to establish ‘one unified voice’ in policy talks

The Fort Yuma-Quechan Indian Tribe is situated at a nexus in the Colorado River Basin. That’s true in a geographic sense. The tribe’s reservation overlays the Arizona-California border near Yuma, Arizona. The two states are heavily reliant on water from the Colorado River. The reservation also abuts the U.S.-Mexico border where the river flows into Mexico for use in cities and on farms. One of the river’s largest irrigation projects, the All-American Canal, was dug through the tribe’s land, and flows from the reservation’s northeastern boundary to its far southwestern corner, on its way to irrigate crops in California’s Imperial Valley. The confluence of the Colorado River and one of its historically important tributaries, the Gila River, is nearby.

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Aquafornia news March 30, 2021 GoBankingRates

Blog: 6 alarming facts about America’s water industry

About 40 million Americans in the West and Southwest rely on the Colorado River for drinking water, as do the region’s massive agriculture and recreation industries. Water has been the most valuable commodity in the West since the time of the pioneers. It became a source of modern political power when the water of the Colorado River was divvied up among seven Western States in the 1920s — the Jack Nicholson movie “Chinatown” dramatized California’s legendary water battles. Today, a rapidly shrinking Colorado River is forced to support relentless development in California and across the West — very thirsty development.

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Aquafornia news March 29, 2021 California WaterBlog

Blog: Field courses help young people see the real world

It was perhaps unsurprising I wound up a field ecologist. Raised in Wisconsin, I spent almost all my childhood free time roaming largely unchaperoned in nature, pre-internet. It was there that I developed a deep love for nature, water and fish that would stay with me my whole life. It was a privileged upbringing. And yet somehow it was years later, when I was 22 and taking a university field course, that I finally figured out I wanted to pursue a career in fish and ecology. It’s unclear how many biologists trace their paths back to experiences like these, but I suspect there are many. Field courses are so impactful, and we need them now, more than ever before. 

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Aquafornia news March 29, 2021 Water Education Colorado

Despite blizzard, Colorado’s critical mountain snowpack shrinks

Despite the recent history-making blizzard on Colorado’s Front Range, statewide snowpack sits at 92 percent of average as of March 19, down from 105 percent of average at the end of February, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Just two river basins, the Arkansas and the Rio Grande, are registering above average at 101 percent and 106 percent respectively. Among the driest are the Gunnison Basin, at 86 percent of average, and the San Juan/Dolores, at 83 percent, both in the southwestern part of the state.

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Aquafornia news March 29, 2021 The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah is a leader in cloud seeding and could prove as a model for boosting a drought-stricken West’s water supplies

Utah’s winter sports industry may claim the greatest snow on Earth, but for skiers and water watchers alike, there is hardly ever enough powder. For nearly 50 years, the second-driest state in the nation has been giving natural winter storms an engineered boost to help deepen its snowpack through a program largely funded by state taxpayers, local governments and water conservancy districts. More recently, the states that rely on water from the lower Colorado River — California, Arizona and Nevada — have been paying for additional cloud seeding in Utah.

Related articles: 

  • Salt Lake Tribune: Utah is in a severe drought and we must act 
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Aquafornia news March 26, 2021 Science News

Simple structures can help streams survive wildfires and drought

Many of the wetlands in the western United States have disappeared since the 1700s. California has lost an astonishing 90 percent of its wetlands, which includes streamsides, wet meadows and ponds. In Nevada, Idaho and Colorado, more than 50 percent of wetlands have vanished. Precious wet habitats now make up just 2 percent of the arid West — and those remaining wet places are struggling. Nearly half of U.S. streams are in poor condition, unable to fully sustain wildlife and people, says Jeremy Maestas, a sagebrush ecosystem specialist with the NRCS who organized that workshop on Wilde’s ranch in 2016. As communities in the American West face increasing water shortages, more frequent and larger wildfires and unpredictable floods, restoring ailing waterways is becoming a necessity.

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Aquafornia news March 26, 2021 The Spectrum

Opinion: The water tap – exceptional drought calls for exceptional measures. Or does it?

Last week, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox issued an executive order declaring a statewide drought emergency. In the press release that followed, he urged Utahns to “evaluate their water use and find ways to save not only because of current drought conditions but also because we live in one of the driest states in the nation.” The suggested water-saving recommendations … included … fixing leaks; running full loads (dishwashers and washing machines); turning off the water while brushing teeth, shaving, soaping up, doing dishes or rinsing vegetables; reducing showers by at least one minute; waiting to water; and planning now for the irrigation season by implementing water-wise landscaping or purchasing a smart irrigation controller.
-Written by Joan Meiners, an Environment Reporter for The Spectrum & Daily News through the Report for America initiative by The Ground Truth Project.

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Aquafornia news March 26, 2021 Cornell Chronicle

New research: Study exposes global ripple effects of regional water scarcity

Water scarcity is often understood as a problem for regions experiencing drought, but a new study from Cornell and Tufts universities finds that not only can localized water shortages impact the global economy, but changes in global demand send positive and negative ripple effects to water basins across the globe. … [I]n the lower Colorado River basin, the worst economic outcomes arise from limited groundwater availability and high population growth, but that high population growth can also prove beneficial under some climatic scenarios. 

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Aquafornia news March 25, 2021 Arizona PBS

Tribal leaders ask for more funding, less meddling for water projects

Arizona tribal officials told a Senate committee Wednesday that the federal government can help address a crisis with water infrastructure on their lands through more funding, and less meddling. Navajo Department of Water Resources Director Jason John and Colorado River Indian Tribes Chairwoman Amelia Flores made the comments during a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on water infrastructure for Native communities. Leaders of Oregon and Alaska tribes also testified at the hearing. 

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Aquafornia news March 25, 2021 The Arizona Republic

Opinion: Water security doesn’t exist for many in Arizona. Here’s how to get it

The past year has shown Arizonans how critical water is to all we hold dear. It’s a pillar of public health, a precious and finite resource, and the lifeblood of our economy and food production.  Water is essential for life, and climate change is shrinking already scarce supplies. Fortunately, we also know what we can do now to help safeguard our water.  As we build back better post-COVID-19, we cannot take water for granted. Water security for all must become a foundational principle in planning and policy making as Arizona builds more resilient, healthy and equitable communities.
-Written by Chris Kuzdas, freshwater program manager and scientist with Environmental Defense Fund, and Haley Paul, policy director for the National Audubon Society in Arizona. 

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Aquafornia news March 25, 2021 The Daily Sentinel

Water outlook a concern for endangered fish

Meager anticipated snowmelt runoff is expected to mean another challenging year for maintaining even below-optimal levels of flows in the Colorado River downstream of the Palisade area for the benefit of endangered fish. … What’s referred to as the 15-Mile Reach of the river between the Palisade area and the Gunnison River confluence is of particular concern for the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program, which focuses on four endangered fish. The stretch is primarily used by two of the fish — the razorback sucker and Colorado pikeminnow. But it’s also used by a third, the bonytail. And a fourth, the humpback chub, which favors downstream stretches such as Westwater Canyon, indirectly benefits from efforts to bolster flows in the 15-Mile Reach.

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Aquafornia news March 25, 2021 Somach Simmons & Dunn

Blog: Water law alert – Groundwater well permitting, Yampa River basin

As a result of increasing demand for water, exacerbated by the decades-long drought in the Colorado River system, the Colorado State Engineer is considering a proposal that would impose stricter limitations on the permitting of new groundwater wells in the Yampa River Basin upstream of where the Yampa River meets the Little Snake River.  The Yampa River flows west from its headwaters near Steamboat Springs, in northwest Colorado.  After it is joined by the Little Snake River, it flows to meet the Green River near the Colorado-Utah state line.  From there, the Green River flows south as a major tributary of the Colorado River.

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Aquafornia news March 24, 2021 Fox 13 Salt Lake City

Romney and the looming Colorado River clash

One of the most critical negotiations for Utah’s future is coming at a time when Utah’s delegations in Washington D.C. may be less influential than every other party at the table. The Colorado River Compact, hammered out in 1922 with few amendments over the years, expires in 2026. Every other state in the compact other than Utah has a majority Democratic or split delegation in Washington. Those states? Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. 

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Aquafornia news March 23, 2021 U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

News release: Reclamation names Katrina Grantz Upper Colorado Basin assistant regional director

The Bureau of Reclamation is pleased to announce the selection of Katrina Grantz as assistant regional director for its Interior Region 7 — Upper Colorado Basin. Grantz, a 14-year Reclamation veteran, began her assignment March 14. As assistant regional director, she will oversee a range of water and hydropower programs in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

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Aquafornia news March 23, 2021 KUER

A Colorado River showdown is looming. Let the posturing begin

A showdown is looming on the Colorado River. The river’s existing management guidelines are set to expire in 2026. The states that draw water from it are about to undertake a new round of negotiations over the river’s future, while it’s facing worsening dry conditions due in part to rising temperatures. That means everyone with an interest in the river’s future — tribes, environmentalists, developers, business groups, recreation advocates — is hoping a new round of talks will bring certainty to existing water supplies and demands.

Related article:

  • Associated Press: Tucson official says city can fight water cuts despite data​
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Aquafornia news March 23, 2021 The Colorado Sun

Aurora, Colorado Springs get federal OK to test if controversial reservoir in Eagle County wilderness is feasible

White River National Forest officials on Monday said Aurora Water and Colorado Springs Utilities can move ahead with test drilling to determine whether a controversial dam on Homestake Creek in Eagle County is technically feasible…. conservation groups say they are adamantly against any new water transfers to suburban water users across the Continental Divide and will oppose every approval step….Environmental groups oppose new dams on Homestake in part because they would take water out of tributaries that feed the already-depleted Colorado River.  

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Aquafornia news March 23, 2021 Pagosa Daily Post

Blog: Colorado establishes water equity task force

Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Dan Gibbs, executive director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources, announced recently the establishment of a Water Equity Task Force to better understand existing equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) challenges in Colorado water issues and inform the Colorado Water Plan. … The 2005 Water for the 21st Century Act (HB 05-1177) ushered in a new area of regionally inclusive and collaborative water planning. That spirit was further codified in the 2015 Colorado Water Plan, which ensured that all water uses in Colorado are interconnected and of equal value. 

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Aquafornia news March 23, 2021 The Guardian

Make it rain: US states embrace ‘cloud seeding’ to try to conquer drought

With three-quarters of the US west gripped by a seemingly ceaseless drought, several states are increasingly embracing a drastic intervention – the modification of the weather to spur more rainfall. … Cloud seeding experiments have taken place since the 1940s but until recently there was little certainty the method had any positive impact. But research last year managed to pinpoint snowfall that “unambiguously” came from cloud seeding … Others are now looking to join in, including the “four corners” states – Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico – that have been ravaged by the most extreme version of the latest drought. 

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Aquafornia news March 22, 2021 Bloomberg Green

Monday Top of the Scroll: Drought is the U.S. West’s next big climate disaster

Much of the U.S. West is facing the driest spring in seven years, setting up a climate disaster that could strangle agriculture, fuel deadly wildfires and even hurt power production. Across 11 western states, drought has captured about 75% of the land, and covers more than 44% of the contiguous U.S., the U.S. Drought Monitor said.  While drought isn’t new to the West, where millions of people live, grow crops and raise livestock in desert conditions that require massive amounts of water, global warming is exacerbating the problem — shrinking snowpack in the Rocky Mountains and extending the fire season on the West Coast.

Related articles: 

  • CBS Bay Area: Spring Arrives With Meteorologists’ Grim Forecast for California Water Supply
  • Tucson.com: Climate change could reduce Tucson groundwater supplies, new study finds
  • Tucson.com: Tucson’s water supply can survive ‘worst case’ CAP cuts, city official says​
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Aquafornia news March 22, 2021 The Weather Channel

World Water Day highlights value of water

While water shortages and lack of access are usually associated with developing countries, there were more than 2 million people in the United States without running water or basic indoor plumbing as of 2019, according to the U.S. Water Alliance. Among them are members of the Navajo Nation who drive 40 miles every few days to haul water to their homes; communities in California dealing with contaminated wells; and people across the country living with outdated water systems.

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  • Nasdaq: World Water Day: Why Now is the Right Time to Invest in Water Innovation
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Aquafornia news March 19, 2021 Associated Press

Friday Top of the Scroll: Forecast for spring – Nasty drought worsens for much of US

With nearly two-thirds of the United States abnormally dry or worse, the government’s spring forecast offers little hope for relief, especially in the West where a devastating megadrought has taken root and worsened. Weather service and agriculture officials warned of possible water use cutbacks in California and the Southwest, increased wildfires, low levels in key reservoirs such as Lake Mead and Lake Powell and damage to wheat crops.

Related articles: 

  • The Marin Independent Journal: North Marin Water District approves Novato drought measures
  • Ukiah Daily Journal: Another year of drought in Mendocino County
  • Newsweek: With 66% of U.S. in Drought, NOAA Expects ‘Enhanced’ Wildfire Season
  • AgNet West: Secretary Vilsack Declares Drought Conditions in California
  • Patch: Riverside County On Track For Bone-Dry Year
  • The Mercury News: Opinion: Water conservation is a way of life in the Valley
  • Deseret News: Water restrictions could come early with 90% of Utah in ‘extreme drought,’ Cox warns 
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Aquafornia news March 18, 2021 Bureau of Reclamation

News release: Projects throughout the Western United States receive $42.4 million in grants from Reclamation to conserve and use water more efficiently

The Bureau of Reclamation is awarding $42.4 million in grants to 55 projects throughout 13 states. These projects will improve the water reliability for these communities by using water more efficiently and power efficiency improvements that water supply reliability and generate more hydropower…. In California, near the Arizona border, the Bard Water District will receive $1.1 million to complete a canal lining and piping project. The project is expected to result in annual water savings of 701 acre-feet, which will remain in the Colorado River system for other uses.  

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Aquafornia news March 18, 2021 Boating Industry

California offers grants for quagga and zebra mussel prevention

The Division of Boating and Waterways (DBW) will be accepting grant applications for quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention programs from March 22 through April 30, 2021. All applications must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 30, 2021. … California water body authorities have recognized the westward spread of mussel infestation via the Colorado River System and the potential harm to state waterways should lakes and reservoirs become invaded. To help prevent California waterways from infestation, DBW provides grants to entities that own or manage any aspect of water in a reservoir that is open for public recreation and is mussel-free.

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Aquafornia news March 18, 2021 Colorado Public Radio

Aurora and Colorado Springs want more water. The proposed solution — a new reservoir — would have far-reaching impacts

While most people in Colorado live on the Front Range, most of the state’s water is on the West Slope. That’s where the snowpack melts and makes its way into the Colorado River. Much of that water flows to places like Denver through a series of dams, reservoirs, pumps and pipes. Aurora and Colorado Springs want to bring more of that water to their growing cities, which are the state’s largest after Denver. To do that, they want to dam up Whitney Creek in Eagle County south of Minturn and create a reservoir that could supply water for thousands of new homes.

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Aquafornia news March 18, 2021 The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah governor declares a state of emergency because of drought

After a record dry summer and fall — and with winter snowpack currently at 70% of normal levels — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed an emergency order Wednesday declaring a state of emergency due to drought conditions. The move comes after a recommendation from the state’s Drought Review and Reporting Committee and opens the door for drought-affected communities and agricultural producers to potentially access state or federal emergency funds and resources, according to a news release. Cox said Wednesday that state leaders have been “monitoring drought conditions carefully and had hoped to see significant improvement from winter storms.”

Related articles:

  • KSL.com: Gov. Cox issues emergency declaration over Utah’s persistent drought conditions
  • Fox 13: Utah declares state of emergency due to drought
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Aquafornia news March 18, 2021 Los Angeles Times

MWD manager left legacy of abuse in desert water world

In the work camps of the sprawling Colorado River Aqueduct system, Donald Nash was known as king of the desert. For more than half a decade, Nash was responsible for operating and maintaining the pumping plants, reservoirs and pipelines that deliver much of Southern California’s drinking water — while also exerting a tyrannical presence in the remote communities of aqueduct workers that have sprung up across desolate stretches of the California desert. Coworkers said they complained about Nash’s abusive behavior and recklessness to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California as he became increasingly erratic over the years.

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Aquafornia news March 17, 2021 The Telegraph

Scrapped Vegas pipeline plan looms amid swamp cedar debate

The shadow of a controversial plan to pipe groundwater from rural Nevada to Las Vegas looms as state lawmakers weigh two proposals to protect groves of swamp cedar trees considered sacred on Monday. Until last year when the Southern Nevada Water Authority decided to “indefinitely defer” its pursuit of permits, the trees were caught in the crossfire of fights over development and conservation.

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Aquafornia news March 17, 2021 E&E News

Geoengineering: 8 states are tweaking the weather (and it might not work)

Western water managers are contending with the growing threat of shortages. Flow has dwindled on major water systems like the Rio Grande and the Colorado River, which each supply water to millions of people. With temperatures steadily rising, cloud seeding poses one attractive solution.

Related article: 

  • E&E News: Why cloud seeding won’t reverse climate droughts
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Aquafornia news March 17, 2021 EurekAlert!

New research: Geomorphologists map fine sediment in Colorado River to improve sandbar management

Grain by grain, sandbars are ecologically important to the Colorado River system for humans and wildlife, say scientists. How sand, silt and clay move along and become deposited within the river corridor in the Grand Canyon National Park, downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, has become an important question to a number of government agencies as well as to Native American tribes. The answer impacts the entire Colorado River ecosystem and will help scientists better understand how the Colorado River system works.

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Aquafornia news March 16, 2021 Colorado Public Radio

All that snow should help with Colorado’s drought, but it’s still not enough for some parts of the state

As Colorado digs out from the recent blizzard, each heavy shovel full of snow proves the storm brought plenty of moisture. But is it enough to free the state from its drought conditions? Russ Schumacher, the Colorado state climatologist, said the answer largely depends on location. … Colorado’s drought conditions had improved ahead of the storm. After record dry weather over the summer and fall, snowpack levels had inched toward normal throughout the winter, but western Colorado continued to miss out on the snowfall. 

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Aquafornia news March 16, 2021 Charlotte Observer

Water flow change at Grand Canyon to reveal riverbed

The water flow in the Grand Canyon is temporarily changing and it could reveal some surprises, geologists said. The U.S. Geological Survey said Sunday that an 11-day “spring disturbance” flow will start Monday and will drop water levels in parts of the Grand Canyon. … While dam maintenance may not seem exciting, the drop in water could reveal parts of the Colorado riverbed that hasn’t been seen in decades, USGS said. It could also impact in the Colorado River ecosystem. The change in water levels will also mimic what the Colorado River was like before the dam was built, USGS said.

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Aquafornia news March 15, 2021 Arizona Daily Sun

Reduced water flow prepped at Lake Powell

Scientists and boatmen with the United States Geological Survey are preparing for a busy week on the Colorado River as engineers at Glen Canyon Dam prepare to reduce the water flowing out of Lake Powell substantially. In order to conduct maintenance on the concrete apron downstream of the dam, engineers will be limiting the water that runs through the dam’s turbines starting Monday and continuing through the rest of the week.

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Aquafornia news March 15, 2021 Colorado Sun

Blog: Colorado’s latest proposal to divert water from the Western Slope is a complex, disputed set of pipes

Sometime in the middle of next year, if Northern Water gets its way, the bulldozers will start piling earth and rock 25 stories high to plug this dry basin southwest of Loveland forever.  Four miles to the south, they’ll build another dam to keep their newly-made bathtub from leaking out the back toward Lyons. Drill crews will bore a massive pipeline through the hogback making up the east edge of the bathtub, in order to feed Carter Lake a few hundred yards to the east. They’ll move a power line. Help build a surrounding open space park. Upgrade a sewage plant in Fraser. Four years later, they’ll close dam gates reinforced to hold back 29 billion gallons of life-giving water.

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Aquafornia news March 14, 2021 Vox

Drought in California – Why 77 percent of the Western US is abnormally dry

The Western US is in the midst of yet another dangerous dry spell. The drought has been building over the past year, and since November, a greater stretch of the West has been in the most severe category of drought than at any time in the 20 years that the National Drought Mitigation Center has been keeping records. … Ryan Jensen saw the impacts of California’s last major drought firsthand while working for the Community Water Center in the San Joaquin Valley. When residential wells ran dry, students had to shower in their school locker rooms. To keep toilets running, some rural households relied on hoses slung over fences from their neighbors.

Related articles:

  • Associated Press: California gets another round of late-winter rain and snow
  • ABC10: Cold weather system bringing more rain, low snow to Northern California
  • Fresno Irrigation District: Dry Winter Conditions Prompt Postponing FID’s Water Deliveries
  • Georgetown Gazette: Snowpack below average
  • AccuWeather: Rain, snow to storm the West Coast​ 
  • ABC15 Arizona: How experts say climate change is impacting Arizona snowpack, water supply
  • The Denver Post: “They’re getting bigger, faster”: Colorado braces for what’s next after last year’s explosive wildfires
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Aquafornia news March 12, 2021 Water Education Foundation

Announcement: Save the date for our virtual lower Colorado River tour on May 20

Mark your calendars now for our virtual Lower Colorado River Tour on May 20 to learn about the important role the river’s water plays in the three Lower Basin states of Nevada, Arizona and California, and how it helps to sustain their cities, wildlife areas and farms. Registration is coming soon! This virtual journey will cover a stretch of the Colorado River from Hoover Dam and its reservoir Lake Mead, the nation’s tallest concrete dam and largest reservoir respectively, down to the U.S./Mexico border and up to the Salton Sea.

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Aquafornia news March 12, 2021 Arizona Capitol Times

Opinion: Congress has opportunity to protect Grand Canyon region

The Grand Canyon Protection Act was recently introduced by U.S. Rep. Raύl Grijalva and passed in the House and has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. The bills will permanently protect about 1 million acres of public lands surrounding Grand Canyon from the harmful and lasting damage of new uranium mining. … This legislation is critical to stopping the threats that mining poses to water quality and quantity, unique habitats and wildlife pathways, and to sacred places. 
-Written by Sandy Bahr, director for Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter, and Amber Wilson Reimondo, Energy Program director with Grand Canyon Trust.

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Aquafornia news March 12, 2021 Daily Breeze

Water Replenishment District general manager retires following months of infighting over his replacement

Robb Whitaker, the Water Replenishment District general manager whose retirement announcement triggered months of infighting, will make his exit Friday, just as the search for the district’s next leader begins again. Whitaker is concluding 17 years at the helm of the water district, where he spent the bulk of his career. He is credited with championing visionary programs and projects that allowed the district to rely solely on local water resources.

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Aquafornia news March 11, 2021 High Country News

Energy companies have left Colorado with billions of dollars in oil and gas cleanup

When an oil or gas well reaches the end of its lifespan, it must be plugged. If it isn’t, the well might leak toxic chemicals into groundwater and spew methane, carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the atmosphere for years on end. … There are nearly 60,000 unplugged wells in Colorado in need of this treatment — each costing $140,000 on average, according to the Carbon Tracker, a climate think tank, in a new report that analyzes oil and gas permitting data. Plugging this many wells will cost a lot —more than $8 billion, the report found.

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Aquafornia news March 11, 2021 Associated Press

Thursday Top of the Scroll: Western states chart diverging paths as water shortages loom

As persistent drought and climate change threaten the Colorado River, several states that rely on the water acknowledge they likely won’t get what they were promised a century ago. But not Utah. Republican lawmakers approved an entity that could push for more of Utah’s share of water as seven Western states prepare to negotiate how to sustain a river serving 40 million people. Critics say the legislation, which the governor still must sign, could strengthen Utah’s effort to complete a billion-dollar pipeline from a dwindling reservoir that’s a key indicator of the river’s health.

Related article: 

  • Digital Journal: Western states debate water supply in the Colorado River
  • Arizona Republic:Bills focusing on rivers, groundwater slowed by Arizona lawmakers
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Aquafornia news March 10, 2021 KNAU Arizona Public Radio

Report calls for “radical changes” to Colorado River management

A recent report from Colorado River experts says it’s time for radical new management strategies to safeguard the Southwest’s water supplies. It’s meant to inform discussions on how to renegotiate certain parts of the Law of the River that will expire in 2026. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke about the report with Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University.

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Aquafornia news March 9, 2021 The Wall Street Journal

Record drought strains the Southwest

For the first time ever, rancher Jimmie Hughes saw all 15 of the ponds he keeps for his cattle dry up at the same time this year. Now, he and his co-workers are forced to haul tanks of water two hours over dusty, mountain roads to water their 300 cows. … The Southwest is locked in drought again, prompting cutbacks to farms and ranches and putting renewed pressure on urban supplies. Extreme to exceptional drought is afflicting between 57% and 90% of the land in Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Arizona and is shriveling a snowpack that supplies water to 40 million people from Denver to Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Related articles: 

  • NM Political Report: New Mexico’s coming megadrought highlights farmers’ control of water
  • CBS Denver: Colorado is known for heavy March snow, one storm ended record drought in 2003 
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Aquafornia news March 9, 2021 High Country News

Invasive mussels in aquarium supplies alarm wildlife managers

Zebra mussels — fingernail-sized mollusks named for their striped shells — are benign in their native Black Sea and Caspian Sea ecosystems. But they are disastrous almost everywhere else. Since they were first discovered in the Great Lakes in 1986, these rapid-spawning animals have infested every watershed in the Lower 48 except the Columbia River Basin….The mussel found in [a pet store in] Seattle came from the California distributor….

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Aquafornia news March 9, 2021 Utah Public Radio

After years of delays, California tries to tamp down Salton Sea dust

California is spending more than $200 million to keep an unfolding ecological crisis from getting worse. The state wants to stabilize habitat along the southern bank of the Salton Sea, the state’s largest lake. That is good news for nearby residents concerned about their health, but the restoration could also affect everyone who draws water from the Colorado River.  At issue is the wide swaths of exposed lakebed that have been uncovered as the thirsty lake’s water evaporates in the desert air.

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Aquafornia news March 8, 2021 Arizona Republic

Opinion: Colorado River study predicts big cuts. That’s not why it’s intriguing

A new Colorado River study predicts we may need to make even deeper cuts to keep our reservoirs from tanking over the long haul. But the dire conclusions within the study aren’t what make it so intriguing. It’s how the group arrived at them. The Future of the Colorado River project, an effort based out of Utah State University, has produced six white papers to evaluate new approaches to water management along the river. And, most notably, it is using the Colorado River Simulation System (CRSS), the same modeling tool the Bureau of Reclamation uses to develop its long-term water availability forecasts for the basin.
- Written by Joanna Allhands, a columnist for the Arizona Republic.

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Aquafornia news March 5, 2021 The Washington Post

Deb Haaland is approved as Interior secretary by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee

Rep. Deb Haaland’s bid to become the first Native American interior secretary was made more likely Thursday by an unlikely Republican supporter, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of oil-rich Alaska, who said she still had serious reservations about Haaland’s past opposition to drilling. Murkowski was the only Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to approve Haaland (D-N.M.) in the narrow 11-to-9 vote. Haaland’s nomination now moves to the full Senate, where the entire Democratic caucus and two Republicans, Murkowski and Susan Collins (Maine), are expected to back her, cementing her confirmation.

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Aquafornia news March 5, 2021 Post Independent

Opinion: Colorado River Compact adjustments are needed

When [the Colorado River Compact was] signed in 1922, the Colorado River drainage was divided into two divisions; Upper: Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah; Lower: Arizona, California, Nevada. At that time, it was felt the total average annual flow was 16.4 million acre feet. As a result, each basin was assigned 50%, or 7.5 million acre feet, with the 1.4 million acre feet surplus allocated to Mexico. … As a result, the Upper Basin is obligated to provide 7.5M acre feet to the Lower Basin, regardless of the actual flow of water in any given year. Obviously, snowpack and the consequent flow is not a constant and years of drought and low flows create a problem for the Upper Basin.
-Written by Bryan Whiting, a columnist for the Glenwood Springs (Colo.) Post Independent. 

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Aquafornia news March 5, 2021 Colorado Springs Gazette

Colorado in Drought — Scientists preparing for ‘chaotic weather’ future

The hot dry conditions that melted strong snowpack early in 2020 and led to severe drought, low river flows and record setting wildfires across the state could be a harbinger of what is to come in Colorado. Climate change is likely to drive “chaotic weather” and greater extremes with hotter droughts and bigger snowstorms that will be harder to predict, said Kenneth Williams, environmental remediation and water resources program lead at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, headquartered in California.

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Aquafornia news March 4, 2021 Navajo Times

Diné leaders: Haaland good for Navajo

One of the first two Native American women to be elected to Congress, Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) is well on her way to being confirmed as the first Native American to serve as secretary of the Interior. Last week, Haaland went before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for her confirmation hearing in which she answered questions for two days. Today the committee will host a business meeting to consider the nomination of Haaland and members can vote in person or by proxy.

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Aquafornia news March 4, 2021 The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah Senate backs new agency to battle neighboring states over Colorado River

The [Utah] state Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would establish the so-called Colorado River Authority of Utah, along with a $9 million “legal defense fund,” intended to ensure that the state receives its allotted share of the Colorado’s dwindling flows….Utah has shared the Colorado River’s flow with six Western states under a century-old agreement, but the Beehive State has been slow to push its stake, according to backers of HB297. Accordingly, Utah uses 54% of its share, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said… 

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Aquafornia news March 4, 2021 Circle of Blue

The biggest coal power plant in the American West closed. What happens with the Colorado River water it used?

The coal-fired power plant that sat on Navajo Nation land in the northeastern corner of Arizona did not just generate electricity. It also drew water from the Colorado River, an essential input for cooling the plant’s machinery. What happens to that water now that the plant is being decommissioned? Who gets to decide how it is used? In a drying region in which every drop of water is accounted for and parceled out, the stakes are high and the legal claims are unresolved.

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Aquafornia news March 3, 2021 Gizmodo

Blog: Humans have completely transformed how water is stored on Earth

Human fingerprints are all over the world’s freshwater. A new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature shows that while human-controlled freshwater sources make up a minimal portion of the world’s ponds, lakes, and rivers, they are responsible for more than half of all changes to the Earth’s water system. … Climate change already looms large over the world’s freshwater supply. Major sources of drinking water, like the Colorado River, have less water and are flowing more slowly due to climate change—even as they face increasing demand from our water-hungry farms and cities. Rainfall itself is becoming more erratic in some locations, such as California…

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Aquafornia news March 3, 2021 The Desert Review

$44.4 million in MWD overcharges being returned to local water agencies

The San Diego County Water Authority’s Board of Directors in February 2021 announced a plan to distribute a rebate of $44.4 million to its 24 member agencies across the region after receiving a check for that amount from the Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to pay legal damages and interest, according to a SDCWA press release.

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Aquafornia news March 3, 2021 Arizona Public Media

In rapidly warming Colorado River Basin, the negotiating table is being set

Anyone who has hosted a good dinner party knows that the guest list, table setting and topic of conversation play a big role in determining whether the night is a hit or the guests leave angry and unsatisfied. That concept is about to get a true test on the Colorado River, where chairs are being pulled up to a negotiating table to start a new round of talks that could define how the river system adapts to a changing climate for the next generation. 

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Aquafornia news March 3, 2021 Los Angeles Times

Wednesday Top of the Scroll: This year will likely be critically dry for California

The winter storms that dumped heavy snow and rain across California early in 2021 are likely not enough to negate what will be a critically dry year, state water officials believe. California’s Department of Water Resources on Tuesday recorded a snow depth of 56 inches and water content of 21 inches at Phillips Station in the Sierra Nevada. The water content of the overall snowpack was 61% of the average for March 2 and 54% of the average for April 1, when it is historically at its maximum.

Related articles: 

  • The Mercury News: Sierra snowpack at 61% as new drought looms for California this summer 
  • NBC Bay Area: Seventh Driest Bay Area Rain Season
  • KTLA5: California likely faces a critically dry year, with reservoirs and Sierra snowpack already well below average
  • Tahoe Daily Tribune: Without a series of storms, California facing critically dry year
  • Ag Net West: California Snow Levels Low, Matching Water Storage Levels
  • Merced Sun-Star: Is California in for drought? Second dry winter evident in latest Sierra snowpack reading
  • ABC10: California’s grim water totals show ‘well below’ normal rainfall totals
  • The Weather Channel: Pattern Shift Likely to Bring Much-Needed Rain, Snow to Parts of California, the West Into Next Week
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Aquafornia news March 2, 2021 La Mesa Courier

SD Water Authority mulls new aqueduct

Addressing the San Diego region’s limited local water supplies with innovative ideas is something the San Diego County Water Authority has become known for. Using expertise gained from decades of successful planning and projects, the Water Authority is developing strategies to reduce the future cost of water that sustains the economy and quality of life across the county.

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Aquafornia news March 2, 2021 Colorado Politics

Poll: Slim majority supports spending more to protect Colorado’s water

A majority of Colorado voters believe the state should spend more money on protecting and conserving its water resources, but they’re not willing to support new state taxes to fund the work, according to a series of bipartisan polls conducted over the past 18 months. … Though the polling also showed some support for such potential tools as a new statewide tourism tax or a bottle tax, that support eroded quickly when likely voters were asked about a new statewide tax, with 39% of likely voters saying they were skeptical the state could be trusted to spend the money wisely…

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Aquafornia news March 2, 2021 Sierra Club Angeles Chapter

Blog: Sierra Club looks to build on successful efforts to make water agencies more diverse and progressive

Water may be life, but most residents of Southern California do not often reflect on the complex series of canals, pumps, and pipelines that connect where they live to water sources like the Colorado River, the Sierras, or the numerous water basins under LA County. Even less appreciated is the role water districts play in combining water sources, treating our water, and distributing it. Major water districts influence water quality and rates. They decide how to meet future water needs in an era of drought and climate change. These agencies determine if your water comes from sustainable local sources like conservation and recycling or from desert-damaging water mining projects like Cadiz. 

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Aquafornia news March 2, 2021 Utah Public Radio

Utah’s 2020 drought likely to impact water supply this year

Last year, Utah experienced its worst drought in 20 years. Typically Utahns count on spring snowpack to remedy a dry year and while February snows have been a boon to ski areas the question remains: are they enough to generate an average water supply?

Related articles: 

  • Payson Roundup: Arizona careening toward water shortage crisis 
  • CBS Denver: Without Active Spring Snow, State’s Snowpack On Track To Be Below Average
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Aquafornia news March 1, 2021 The Washington Post

With or without a wall, the border isn’t where you think it is

In 1854, the Gadsden Purchase modified a short, 30-mile stretch of the western border to be the midline of the Colorado River. The Mexican and U.S. governments soon realized that when these rivers shifted across their floodplains, questions about national jurisdiction arose. For example, an exasperated U.S. agent reported that “the lower Colorado … alters its channel from time to time, cutting off a large stretch of land on one bank and depositing the soil on the other or leaving its old bed and tearing through a large piece of silty bottom land to form a channel some distance away.” The agent went on to complain that these movements made it difficult to determine which land fell on which side of the line…

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Aquafornia news March 1, 2021 Lake Powell Chronicle

Blog: Is Lake Powell doomed?

On Feb. 22, 2021, Lake Powell was 127.24 feet below ‘Full Pool’ or, by content, about 38% full. Based on water level elevations, these measurements do not account for years of sediment (clay, silt, and sand) accumulation—the millions of metric tons on the bottom. Geologist James L. Powell said, “The Colorado delivers enough sediment to Lake Powell to fill 1,400 ship cargo containers each day.” In other words, Lake Powell is shrinking toward the middle from top and bottom. The lake is down over 30 feet from one year ago, and estimates suggest it could drop another 50 feet by 2026. The Bureau of Reclamation estimated the lifespan of Glen Canyon Dam at 500–700 years. Other estimates aren’t as optimistic, including some as low as 50 years. 

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Aquafornia news March 1, 2021 KPBS

State water project takes aim at restoring Salton Sea, alleviating health risks

California is spending more than $200 million to keep an unfolding ecological crisis from getting worse. The state wants to stabilize habitat along the southern bank of the Salton Sea, the state’s largest lake. That is good news for nearby residents concerned about their health, but the restoration could also affect everyone who draws water from the Colorado River. At issue is the wide swaths of exposed lakebed that have been uncovered as the thirsty lake’s water evaporates in the desert air. The lake bottom is typically a deep layer of fine silt. When covered by water, it poses no risk. But once exposed to the air, and whipped up by the region’s strong winds, the dust becomes a major health risk.

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Aquafornia news February 26, 2021 KUER

Colorado River Authority bill moves to full Senate, some still concerned about transparency

A Senate committee unanimously approved a bill Thursday to create Utah’s Colorado River Authority, which would be tasked with helping the state renegotiate its share of the river. Originally the bill allowed broad reasons to close meetings and protect records. It’s since been changed twice to come more into compliance with the state’s open meeting and record laws. Critics of the bill said it’s still not enough. Mike O’Brien, an attorney with the Utah Media Coalition, said having a narrower scope for open meetings and records exemptions makes the bill better than when it was first introduced. But he wishes it would follow laws already there.

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Aquafornia news February 26, 2021 Arizona Capitol Times

Opinion: Water rights for tribes is environmental justice

This month, the comment period for a potentially landmark piece of legislation ended. Since California v. Arizona in 2000, the Colorado River Indian Tribes have the sole rights to more than 600,000 acres-feet of water from the Colorado River, but they are barred from selling or leasing any of this water to outside communities. The proposed federal legislation, led by the tribes themselves, would allow them to lease some of this water as long as they reduce their own water consumption by an equivalent amount.
-Written by Isaac Humrich, a senior at Sunnyslope High School in Phoenix and a member of American Conservation Coalition.

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Aquafornia news February 25, 2021 Public News Service

Groups call Lake Powell hydropower project unsustainable

Federal regulators have issued a preliminary permit for a pumped-hydropower project using water from Lake Powell, but conservation groups say climate change could make the plan unsustainable. The project would pump water from the lake, drain it downhill to a generator, and send the power to massive batteries for storage. The 2,200-megawatt project would supply cities in Arizona, California and Nevada, over lines previously used by the retired Navajo Generating Station. Gary Wockner, executive director for Save the Colorado, which opposes the plan, said falling water levels will make the Colorado River Basin an unreliable source of water.

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Aquafornia news February 25, 2021 The New Republic

How does a state use 40 percent less water?

Arizona, California, and Nevada will need to cut their use of Colorado River water by nearly 40 percent by 2050. A study by researchers at Utah State University, which the Arizona Daily Star reported this past Sunday, noted that Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming—the Upper Basin states—will have to reduce their usage, as well, though not by as much as those pulling water from the Lower Basin.

Related article:

  • Aspen Times: Estimates of future Upper Colorado River Basin water use confound previous planning 
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Aquafornia news February 24, 2021 High Country News

Will the climate crisis tap out the Colorado River?

From California’s perspective, the view upriver is not encouraging. More than half of the upper part of the river basin is in “exceptional drought,” according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, while the Lower Basin is even worse off: More than 60% of it is in the highest drought level. In January, water levels in Lake Powell, the river’s second-largest reservoir, dropped to unprecedented depths, triggering a drought contingency plan for the first time for the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. Since 2000, the Colorado River Basin has seen a sustained period of less water and hotter days. This is, as climate scientists like to say, the “new normal.”

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Aquafornia news February 24, 2021 Cronkite News

Investments in California’s water may help lower costs during drought

Climate change and extreme weather events are forecast to further reduce water supplies in the American Southwest, and a new futures market could allow water users to recoup losses if the price of water spikes. The futures market is the first of its kind, allowing investors and farmers alike to bet on how much water in California will cost on a future date. Water users buy the futures contract to avoid risk and hedge against rising water prices affected by things such as droughts. 

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Aquafornia news February 24, 2021 Colorado Boulevard

Blog: Many in San Gabriel valley drink “forever chemicals” in tap water

Fluorinated compounds, commonly known as PFAS, have been found in water samples in Monterey Park, Duarte, El Monte, Glendora, Rosemead, and LaVerne, according to the Environmental Working Group. One PFAS compound, known as PFHxA, also has been found routinely in imported water the Metropolitan Water District supplies to Southern California cities, acknowledges Rebecca Kimitch, MWD spokesperson. 

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Aquafornia news February 23, 2021 Salt Lake Tribune

Opinion: Utah’s designs on Colorado River water would ignore the facts and evade the law

Utah House Bill 297 is a dangerous spending bill that provides its benefactors with exemptions to conflict-of-interest laws that raises serious moral questions about what is happening at the Utah Legislature. The bill creates another heavily-funded and secretive government agency — the Colorado River Authority — that would receive an initial $9 million, plus $600,000 per year thereafter, in addition to collecting unknown sums of money from other agencies.
-Written by Claire Geddes, a consumer advocate and former director of Utah Legislative Watch.

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Aquafornia news February 23, 2021 Pagosa Daily Post

Editorial: Dragons, unicorns, and Colorado’s water crisis, part six

“Basic climate science reveals that Lake Powell is not a reliable water source for this ill-conceived project.” The reference to ‘basic climate science’ refers to recent computer models that show a drier climate throughout the American Southwest over the next few decades, allegedly due to the continued use of fossil fuels all around the globe. But even without access to clever computer models, we have all seen Lake Powell and Lake Mead — America’s two largest water reservoirs — struggle to remain even half full, as we watch water users extract more water than nature can replace.

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Aquafornia news February 22, 2021 Salt Lake Tribune

Despite recent storms, snowpacks are down, soils are parched and some farms and streams could go dry

Old Man Winter has been busy of late, bringing much-needed relief to Utah’s dangerously low snowpacks. But don’t let the piles of fresh snow fool you. After near-record low precipitation over the past year, Utah water supplies remain in serious trouble even with the recent return of long-absent wet weather. 

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Aquafornia news February 22, 2021 Arizona Daily Star

Colorado River study means it’s time to cut water use now, outside experts say

Less water for the Central Arizona Project — but not zero water. Even more competition between farms and cities for dwindling Colorado River supplies than there is now. More urgency to cut water use rather than wait for seven river basin states to approve new guidelines in 2025 for operating the river’s reservoirs. That’s where Arizona and the Southwest are heading with water, say experts and environmental advocates following publication of a dire new academic study on the Colorado River’s future. The study warned that the river’s Upper and Lower basin states must sustain severe cuts in river water use to keep its reservoir system from collapsing due to lack of water. That’s due to continued warming weather and other symptoms of human-caused climate change, the study said.

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Aquafornia news February 18, 2021 Sterling Journal-Advocate

Colorado work group eyes new tools to stop water profiteering

Imposing hefty taxes on speculative water sales, requiring that water rights purchased by investors be held for several years before they can be resold, and requiring special state approval of such sales are three ideas that might help Colorado protect its water resources from speculators. The ideas were discussed Wednesday at a meeting of a special work group looking at whether Colorado needs to strengthen laws preventing Wall Street investment firms and others from selling water for profit in ways that don’t benefit the state’s farms, cities and streams. 

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Aquafornia news February 17, 2021 Deseret News

Why Utah lawmakers are worried about having enough water in the future

Utah lawmakers say drought and the dwindling Colorado River make it more important than ever for the state to act now to safeguard its interest in the river. 

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Aquafornia news February 17, 2021 Arizona Republic

Opinion: Arizona rivers are drying up. This change could help sustain them

There is much to see and appreciate in Arizona’s natural resources. Water flowing through washes, creeks, rivers and springs sustains life in this hot, dry state. Protecting these waterways, crucial to all life in a desert environment, is an important priority for most Arizonans.
-Written by Kristen Wolfe, a coordinator with Sustainable Water Network.

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Aquafornia news February 12, 2021 AZ Central

Bills to safeguard groundwater in rural Arizona face opposition

On sunbaked farmlands where alfalfa and corn grow alongside pistachio orchards and grapevines, pumps hum as wells draw water from underground and send it flowing to fields. The agriculture business around Willcox depends entirely on groundwater. And groundwater here, like most other rural areas across Arizona, remains entirely unregulated.

Related articles: 

  • KSL.com: How much water is really under Moab? Scientists say it’s less than once thought 
  • Fox 31 2 News: No real improvement in latest Colorado drought update
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Aquafornia news February 12, 2021 Deseret News

Utah ‘behind the times,’ needs watchdog on Colorado River, leader says

Utah House Speaker Brad Wilson says the state needs to do everything it can to protect its share of water in the drought-challenged Colorado River, and the creation of a new entity would foster that protection. … He and Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, are sponsors of the Colorado River Amendments, HB297, which would set up the Colorado River Authority of Utah with $9 million in one-time money and $600,000 of ongoing money.

Related article:

  • American Rivers: Future of the Colorado River – the “Changed River” edition
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Aquafornia news February 12, 2021 Los Angeles Times

Women faced harassment in MWD apprentice program

Miranda Grow and other women accuse MWD leadership of tolerating sexual harassment and abuse of women, particularly those in the trades apprenticeship program. In interviews with 20 current and former staffers and reviews of hundreds of pages of district records, court documents and audio recordings, The Times found a pattern of complaints alleging harassment and bullying of women who enrolled in the apprentice program, which trains workers who operate and repair the water pumping stations and treatment plants of the Colorado River Aqueduct and other district facilities. It is a crucial pathway into higher-paying, skilled jobs. 

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Aquafornia news February 11, 2021 Water Education Colorado

Blog: Colorado Water Plan turns five: Is it working?

In the five years since Colorado’s Water Plan took effect, the state has awarded nearly $500 million in loans and grants for water projects, cities have enacted strict drought plans, communities have written nearly two dozen locally based stream restoration plans, and crews have been hard at work improving irrigation systems and upgrading wastewater treatment plants. But big challenges lie ahead — drought, population growth, accelerating climate change, budget cuts, wildfires and competing demands for water, among others.

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Aquafornia news February 10, 2021 Grist

What would a just transition look like for the Navajo Nation?

Two decades ago, Nicole Horseherder, a member of the Navajo Nation, coordinated a community meeting. Beneath the shade of Juniper trees at her late grandmother’s house, several dozen people gathered to find a way to protect their pristine water. The springs and wells along Black Mesa, a semi-arid, rocky mesa that overlies the Navajo Aquifer, were increasingly drying up, as tens of billions of gallons of potable water were used to extract, clean, and transport coal mined in the region. This meeting was the start of a long struggle to safeguard the community from coal projects, which threatened the drinking water supply of both the Navajo and Hopi people.

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Aquafornia news February 10, 2021 The Colorado Sun

Colorado’s Water Plan has made progress toward ensuring supply, but the work’s far from done

In the five years since Colorado’s Water Plan took effect, the state has awarded nearly $500 million in loans and grants for water projects, cities have enacted strict drought plans, communities have written nearly two dozen locally based stream-restoration plans and crews have been hard at work on improving irrigation systems and wastewater treatment plants. But there are big challenges ahead — drought, population growth, accelerating climate change, budget cuts, wildfires and competing demands for water, among others. 

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Aquafornia news February 9, 2021 The New Republic

The Colorado River crisis is a national crisis

The Colorado River supports over 40 million people spread across seven southwestern states, 29 tribal nations, and Mexico. It’s responsible for the irrigation of roughly 5.5 million acres of land marked for agricultural use. Local and regional headlines show the river is in crisis. The nation mostly isn’t listening.

Related article:

  • Pagosa Daily Post: OPINION: Colorado Water Priorities for the 2021 Legislative Session​
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Aquafornia news February 8, 2021 Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada could get some of California’s share of Lake Mead. Here’s how:

A proposed water recycling project in Southern California could result in Nevada getting some of the Golden State’s share of water from the Colorado River. The Southern Nevada Water Authority could invest up to $750 million into the water treatment project. In return for the investment, it could get a share of California’s water in Lake Mead. If built, the project would give the region another tool to protect itself against the ongoing strain of drought conditions on the Colorado River.

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Aquafornia news February 8, 2021 Tucson.com

Colorado River outlook darkens dramatically in new study

In the gloomiest long-term forecast yet for the drought-stricken Colorado River, a new study warns that lower river basin states including Arizona may have to slash their take from the river up to 40% by the 2050s to keep reservoirs from falling too low. Such a cut would amount to about twice as much as the three Lower Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada — agreed to absorb under the drought contingency plan they approved in early 2019. Overall, the study warned that managing the river sustainably will require substantially larger cuts in use by Lower Basin states than currently envisioned, along with curbs on future diversions by Upper Basin states.

Related article: 

  • The Salt Lake Tribune: Climate change ravaged the West last year and 2021 could be worse
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Aquafornia news February 8, 2021 The Salt Lake Tribune

Why hedge funds are eyeing Utah’s shrinking water supply

[T]he president of New York-based hedge fund Water Asset Management … has called water in the United States “a trillion-dollar market opportunity.” The hedge fund invested $300 million in farmland in Colorado, California, Arizona and Nevada as of 2020, including $16.6 million on 2,220 acres of farmland with senior water rights in Colorado’s Grand Valley just upstream from where the Colorado River crosses into Utah.

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Aquafornia news February 8, 2021 The San Diego Union-Tribune

Reporter notebook: San Diego’s water war with L.A. is almost a century old

I’ve written in the past about the San Diego County Water Authority’s efforts to divest from its parent agency the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. That includes the bad blood between the two agencies stemming from MWD’s water cutbacks to San Diego in 1991, and how local leaders felt they were mistreated. What I didn’t realize was just how far back the tension goes between San Diego leaders and MWD. All the way back to the Great Depression…

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Aquafornia news February 5, 2021 Mountain Town News

A deep rethink of the Colorado River

Much has been said about a “new normal” in the Colorado River Basin. The phrase describes reduced flows in the 21st century as compared to those during much of the 20th century. Authors of a new study contemplate something beyond, what they call a “new abnormal.” The future, they say, might be far dryer than water managers have been planning for. … In the 133-page report, they identified a wide variety of alternative management ideas, not simple tweaks but “significant modifications or entirely new approaches.” 

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Aquafornia news February 5, 2021 Colorado River Indian Tribes

News release: Local governments, environmental groups, water users, and Arizona coalitions rally in support of CRIT’s right to lease water

New federal legislation that will enable the Colorado River Indian Tribes to lease a portion of its federal water allocation is gaining broad support from Arizona stakeholders. Following the conclusion of a listening session held by the Arizona Department of Water Resources in December, 2020, interested parties were invited to submit public comment on the proposal. 

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Aquafornia news February 5, 2021 Salt Lake Tribune

Proposed river authority would assert Utah’s claims to the Colorado’s dwindling water

Utah legislative leaders on Thursday unveiled plans for a new $9 million state agency to advance Utah’s claims to the Colorado River in hopes of wrangling more of the river’s diminishing flows, potentially at the expense of six neighboring states that also tap the river. Without any prior public involvement or notice, lawmakers assembled legislation to create a six-member entity called the Colorado River Authority of Utah, charged with implementing “a management plan to ensure that Utah can protect and develop the Colorado River system.”

Related article: 

  • St. George News: ‘We are outgunned and outmatched’: Bill creating ‘Colorado River Authority’ passes committee​
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Aquafornia news February 5, 2021 San Diego Union-Tribune

A $5 billion water project could drill through Anza-Borrego park. Is it a pipe dream?

It would be arguably the most ambitious public works project in San Diego history. The envisioned pipeline would carry Colorado River water more than 130 miles from the Imperial Valley — through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, tunneling under the Cuyamaca Mountains, and passing through the Cleveland National Forest — to eventually connect with a water-treatment plant in San Marcos. An alternative route would run through the desert to the south, boring under Mt. Laguna before emptying into the San Vicente Reservoir in Lakeside. Estimated cost: roughly $5 billion. New water delivered: None.

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Aquafornia news February 4, 2021 Las Vegas Sun

Southern Nevada can’t afford to get complacent about water conservation

For years, Southern Nevadans have watched the water level in Lake Mead inch downward and wondered how long we could avoid the federally mandated rationing that kicks in when the lake elevation hits certain thresholds. Now comes a forecast bearing worrisome news. For the second time since 2019, we may be in for a reduction. A study issued last month by the Bureau of Reclamation says the lake level could dip below 1,075 feet by the end of the year.

Related articles: 

  • Nevada Appeal: Scientists keep watch as drought grips Nevada
  • 8 News Now: Expert sounds off on projected drop in Lake Mead water level
  • ABC 15 Arizona: Arizona’s drought conditions improve, just as we head into another dry stretch
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Aquafornia news February 3, 2021 Arizona Central

Opinion: SRP is helping thin Arizona forests. Our water supply depends on it

Over the last 10 years, we have watched as large wildfires ravaged the watershed in and around the Salt and Verde Rivers. The devastation proves one important fact that must be addressed now – our forests are unhealthy. SRP manages the water supply for much of the Valley – most of which comes from 8.3 million acres of land in northern Arizona. Snowfall and rain provide the water that travels through the watershed into SRP reservoirs, which is then delivered to homes and businesses via canals. The forested lands that harness this precious resource have been hit by devastating wildfires and are primed for more infernos like those that impacted California and Colorado. 
-Written by Elvy Barton, a forest health management principal who leads Salt River Project’s forest restoration partnerships, programs and policy analysis initiatives.

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Aquafornia news February 3, 2021 Globe Newswire

News release: EPCOR receives grant to build reclaimed water pipeline

The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has awarded EPCOR USA a $250,000 grant to help build a new reclaimed water pipeline for the benefit of San Tan (formerly Johnson Utilities) customers, agricultural water users, and the San Tan Valley region. This supports water management goals in the Phoenix Active Management Area by reducing demand for groundwater pumping. Under the terms of the Lower Colorado Basin Drought Contingency Plan (DCP), Arizona stakeholders agreed to offset Central Arizona Project water reductions to agricultural users by making alternate sources available. 

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Aquafornia news February 2, 2021 Smithsonian Magazine

California’s Central Valley and the Colorado River Delta are epicenters for North America’s migratory birds

Migratory birds have followed the same flight patterns for millennia, searching for abundant food resources. The journey is often risky, and birds undergo harsh weather patterns—from storms that can throw them off course to dry arid landscapes that provide little to no food resources. A new study published this week in Ornithological Applications found tens of millions of birds depend on the river and wetland habitats weaved within the Colorado River Delta and California’s Central Valley while they make their journey across the dry western landscapes, reports Corryn Wetzel for Audubon.

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Aquafornia news February 2, 2021 Utah Public Radio

The Colorado River basin’s worsening dryness in five numbers

Dry conditions are the worst they’ve been in almost 20 years across the Colorado River watershed, which acts as the drinking and irrigation water supply for 40 million people in the American Southwest. As the latest round of federal forecasts for the river’s flow shows, it’s plausible, maybe even likely, that the situation could get much worse this year. Understanding and explaining the depth of the dryness is up to climate scientists throughout the basin. We called several of them and asked for discrete numbers that capture the current state of the Colorado River basin. 

Related articles: 

  • KTNV Las Vegas: Further drop in Lake Mead water level could trigger water shortage declaration
  • Science Daily: As climate warms, summer monsoons to produce less streamflow
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Aquafornia news February 2, 2021 AZ Central

Opinion: If Queen Creek gets more Colorado River now, brace for WW III

Comedian Ron White once joked that we should have two levels of national security warnings: Find a helmet and put on a helmet. If such a system were in place for controversies, Arizona’s water community would now be in the “put on a helmet” stage. Tensions were already high over a proposal to transfer Colorado River water from a farm in La Paz County to Queen Creek. And now that the recommendation has quietly changed, some folks in on-river communities view it as nothing less than the start of World War III. Heaven help us if it is. 
-Written by Joanna Allhands, a columnist for the Arizona Republic

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Aquafornia news February 1, 2021 Aspen Times

Colorado officials crack down on ponds in Arkansas River basin

State engineers in the Arkansas River basin are beginning to crack down on more than 10,000 ponds without legal water rights, which they say are harming senior rights holders. Last month, Colorado’s Division of Water Resources in Division 2 rolled out a new pond-management plan, which they say will help relieve pressure in the over-appropriated basin by restoring water to senior rights holders. The first step was mailing on Jan. 14 informational brochures to 317 pond owners. Even though the ponds targeted in this effort may have existed for many decades, they don’t have a legal right on the books to divert and store the water.

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Aquafornia news February 1, 2021 Arizona Republic

Tensions spark after plan to sell Colorado River water in Arizona

Mayors and county supervisors in towns along the Colorado River were already upset five months ago when the state water agency endorsed an investment company’s plan to take water from farmland near the river and sell it to a growing Phoenix suburb. Now, they’re incensed that the agency, which initially suggested holding back a large portion of the water, changed its stance and will let the company sell most of the water to the town of Queen Creek. Elected leaders in communities along the river say they intend to continue trying to stop the proposed deal, which would need to be approved by the federal Bureau of Reclamation. 

Related articles:

  • Colorado Sun-Opinion - On this one thing, 9 Colorado water managers agree
  • The Daily Sentinel: Trust issues - Water attorney’s role with firm buying ag land adds to river district unease
  • CT Examiner-Opinion: Trading of Water Futures — a Cause for Concern
  • Lake County News: California State Board of Food and Agriculture to discuss water trading and futures Feb. 2
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Aquafornia news February 1, 2021 Bloomberg Law

Colorado River getting saltier sparks calls for federal help

Water suppliers along the drought-stricken Colorado River hope to tackle another tricky issue after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation installs a new leader: salty water. The river provides water for 40 million people from Colorado to California, and helps irrigate 5.5 million acres of farm and ranchland in the U.S. But all that water also comes with 9 million tons of salt that flow through the system as it heads to Mexico, both due to natural occurrence and runoff, mostly from agriculture. Salt can hurt crop production, corrode drinking water pipes, and cause other damage.

Related articles:

  • Inkstain: Striking new study suggests how deeply we’ll need to reduce our use of Colorado River water 
  • KUNC: The Colorado River Basin’s Worsening Dryness In Five Numbers 
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Aquafornia news January 29, 2021 Mountain Town News

Are there rivers beyond the Colorado?

Jeff Lukas calls the Colorado the “charismatic megafauna of Western rivers.” This riverine equivalent of grizzly bears, bald eagles, and humpback whales gets lots of attention, including national attention. Some of that attention is deserved. It has the nation’s two largest reservoirs, among the nation’s tallest dams, and many of the most jaw-dropping canyons and eye-riveting national parks in the country. It also has 40 million to 50 million people in Colorado and six other southwestern states, plus Mexico, who depend upon its water, and a history of tensions that have at times verged on the political equivalent of fist-fights.

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Aquafornia news January 28, 2021 California Department of Water Resources

Blog: Water Year 2021 – How are we doing?

We are now past the halfway mark in California’s normally wettest winter months, and the wet season to date has been anything but. Most of the state has received less than half of its average annual precipitation to date. Coming after a very dry Water Year 2020 these conditions are concerning. More precipitation will certainly occur in February and March, but will it be enough to erase the state’s large deficit?  

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Aquafornia news January 28, 2021 The Colorado Sun

Colorado’s ornery, independent water guardians finally agree on one thing: Wall Street can look elsewhere

The calls came in shortly after the story in The New York Times announced Wall Street was on the prowl for “billions in the Colorado’s water.” …  The national story raised hackles across Colorado. It defined agriculture as a “wrong” use of Colorado River water and detailed a growing swarm of investors eager to inject Wall Street’s strategies into the West’s century-old water laws. The idea of private investment in public water has galvanized the state’s factious water guardians. 

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Aquafornia news January 27, 2021 Grand Junction Daily Sentinel

First river district project spending from tax to tackle Grand County project

The Colorado River District will spend the first $1 million in partner project funds made possible from a recent tax approval to help pay for a Grand County effort to address environmental impacts from a reservoir. The district board last week approved the contribution to a $23.5 million project for a channel to reconnect the Colorado River where the Windy Gap Reservoir blocks its flow.

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Aquafornia news January 27, 2021 OutThere Colorado

Creating Colorado’s largest body of water meant destroying a thriving mountain town

The largest body of water in Colorado, Blue Mesa Reservoir is nothing to scoff at. Found in the southern portion of the state, Blue Mesa Reservoir is 20-miles-long, home to 96 miles of shoreline, and constrained by a 390-foot-tall dam. However, before this man-made reservoir and popular outdoor recreation spot existed, the area was home to a thriving mountain town that has since been wiped off the map. 

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Aquafornia news January 27, 2021 Audubon

Blog: Tens of millions of western birds depend on these two regions during migration

Each spring and fall, an estimated 1 billion birds migrate through the Pacific Flyway, which snakes down from Alaska, along the West Coast of the United States and Mexico, and into South America. … Now new research reveals what has been long-suspected but never confirmed: California’s Central Valley and the Colorado River Delta are hotspots for North America’s migratory landbirds. 

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Aquafornia news January 27, 2021 Arizona PBS

Pascua Yaqui win water funds, first of $150 million for Arizona projects

Pascua Yaqui Council members called it “a blessing” Tuesday. They were talking about $900,000 in federal funds that will be used to bring water to the tribe’s lands for irrigation, the first fruits of a successful effort last year by members of the state’s congressional delegation to win $150 million in federal funding for water projects around the state. … The money comes from an Army Corps of Engineers fund dedicated to water infrastructure projects in Arizona. Under the bill, local governments can enter into agreements with the corps for water, wastewater treatment, environmental restoration and other projects. 

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Aquafornia news January 26, 2021 Environmental Defense Fund

Blog: How oil & gas states did (and did not) protect land and water in 2020

More than 30 states actively regulate oil and gas development with a variety of practices and rules designed to reduce health, safety and environmental impacts. … Colorado approved new, nation-leading well integrity rules designed to prevent oil and gas wells from leaking methane to the atmosphere, befouling groundwater resources and causing explosions that can harm workers and communities. 

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Aquafornia news January 26, 2021 KPBS

When wildfire burns a high mountain forest, what happens to the snow?

Record-breaking wildfires in 2020 turned huge swaths of Western forests into barren burn scars. Those forests store winter snowpack that millions of people rely on for drinking and irrigation water. But with such large and wide-reaching fires, the science on the short-term and long-term effects to the region’s water supplies isn’t well understood.

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Aquafornia news January 25, 2021 Denver Post

Colorado forests primed for megafires without large-scale action, federal managers warn

Federal officials entrusted with managing millions of acres of forest in Colorado and surrounding states say they’re facing accelerated decline driven by climate warming, insect infestation, megafires and surging human incursions. They’ve been struggling for years to restore resilience and ecological balance to western forests. But they’re falling further behind on key tasks…

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Aquafornia news January 25, 2021 The Colorado Sun

Record low Lake Powell and bad 2021 drought forecast sets stage for water cuts

The dry 2020 and the lack of snow this season has water managers in seven states preparing for the first time for cutbacks outlined in drought contingency plans drafted two years ago.  A sobering forecast released this week by the Bureau of Reclamation shows the federally owned Lake Mead and Lake Powell — the nation’s two largest reservoirs and critical storage for Colorado River water and its 40 million users — dipping near-record-low levels.

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Aquafornia news January 25, 2021 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexico water lawyer appointed to Interior Department

Tanya Trujillo, who was appointed to the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission in July 2019, has joined the Biden administration’s Interior Department. The water lawyer and native New Mexican will serve as the principal deputy assistant secretary for water and science. The position oversees the work of the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Aquafornia news January 22, 2021 Columbia University

Blog: Increasing numbers of U.S. residents live in high-risk wildfire and flood zones. Why?

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates that around 13 million Americans are living within a 100-year flood zone. But over the last few years, researchers have found that the government’s estimates are far lower than the ground realities…. In a study published in the journal Land Use Policy, researchers estimated that by 2050, the number of houses in high-risk wildfire zones might increase by nearly one million in California alone. 

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Aquafornia news January 22, 2021 CBS Denver

Concern for Colorado reservoir water levels as drought conditions persist

There are many ways to gauge the severity of a drought. This winter in Colorado, all you have to do is look around. “The stream flows across the state have been really, really, really down throughout the whole fall season, so that is an indicator,” said Karl Wetlaufer. Wetlaufer is a rafter, so he pays attention to stream flow. It’s also part of his job as a hydrologist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service Snow Survey Program.

Related articles: 

  • CBS Denver: Colorado Statewide Drought Situation Has Denver Water Officials Worried
  • Colorado Public Radio: Colorado Could Really Use A Turnaround With Its Snowpack This Season
  • The Denver Post: Colorado’s statewide snowpack has flatlined this month
  • CBS Denver: Last Time Drought Was This Bad, March ’03 Blizzard Rescued Colorado​
  • KNPR: What Will The Dry Winter Mean For Nevada’s Water Supply?
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Aquafornia news January 22, 2021 The Guardian

One-third of US rivers have changed color in recent decades, research finds

Rivers may seem like immutable features of the landscape but they are in fact changing color over time …The overall significance of the changes are unclear and could reflect various ways in which humans are impacting the environment, said lead author John Gardner, an assistant professor of geology and environmental science at the University of Pittsburgh. One stark example from the study of rapid color change is Lake Mead along the Colorado River.

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Aquafornia news January 21, 2021 CBS Denver

Pipeline dream: Ambitious proposal to bring Utah water to Colorado

A Fort Collins man is pressing forward with a proposed 325-mile-long pipeline which would transfer water from northeastern Utah into the northern part of Colorado’s Front Range. It could cost Aaron Million a billion and a half dollars to build. He claims to have sufficient support from private investors to make his pipeline dream a reality.

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Aquafornia news January 21, 2021 KUNC

Thursday Top of the Scroll: Upper Colorado River drought plan triggered for first time

Increasingly bleak forecasts for the Colorado River have for the first time put into action elements of the 2019 upper basin drought contingency plan. The 24-month study released in January by the Bureau of Reclamation, which projects two years of operations at the river’s biggest reservoirs, showed Lake Powell possibly dipping below an elevation of 3,525 feet above sea level in 2022. That elevation was designated as a critical threshold in the agreement to preserve the ability to produce hydropower at Glen Canyon Dam. 

Related articles:

  • Denver Post: Denver Water concerns rise as drought lingers and reservoir levels dip below norms 
  • Utah Policy: Gov. Cox appoints new Colorado River Commissioner 
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Aquafornia news January 21, 2021 Desert Sun

Imperial Valley water chief, writer and pianist Kevin Kelley dies

Kevin Kelley, the elegant, whip-smart and fierce former general manager of the Imperial Irrigation District, who fought to preserve the Salton Sea and his rural county’s water rights, died Tuesday at 61. He passed away at home, said his brother, Ryan Kelley, an Imperial County Supervisor. The cause of death is still being determined. As top executive from 2011 to January 2019 of the powerful but often overlooked IID, Kelley regularly took on state, federal and urban water officials to remind them of the valley’s importance. 

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Aquafornia news January 21, 2021 Western Slope Now

Colorado River District funds first Western Slope water project after passage of 7A

The Colorado River District’s Board of Directors finalized a new program that will fund Western Slope water projects and approved funding for the program’s first-ever project. The Partnership Project Funding Program will fund multi-purpose water projects on the Western Slope in five project categories: productive agriculture, infrastructure, healthy rivers, watershed health and water quality, and conservation and efficiency. 

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Aquafornia news January 21, 2021 Bloomberg Law

Colorado River expert Biden’s pick for Interior water post

Tanya Trujillo, an expert on water law and the Colorado River Basin [and formerly the executive director of the Colorado River Board of California], is President Joe Biden’s choice to serve in the Interior Department’s top water and science position. If confirmed by the Senate, Trujillo, currently the Lower Basin project director for the Colorado River Sustainability Campaign, will serve as principal deputy assistant secretary for water and science, overseeing the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey. 

Related article: 

  • E& E News: Biden to tap Radhika Fox of California to head EPA water office 
  • U.S. Department of the Interior news release: Interior Department announces members of Biden-Harris Leadership Team 
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Aquafornia news January 20, 2021 The Aspen Times

Colorado River restoration project crawls forward as some environmental groups call for radical change

The Colorado River Water Conservation District at a board meeting Tuesday voted to give $1 million of their taxpayer-raised funds to help construct the Colorado River Connectivity Channel, which will improve deteriorated conditions at the headwaters of the Colorado River. … If built, the channel would mitigate much of the damage to the Colorado and Fraser rivers that has been caused by the Windy Gap reservoir in Grand County.

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Aquafornia news January 19, 2021 The Daily Sentinel

Opinion: Lasting Colorado River solutions come from Main Street, not Wall Street

Sensational headlines, like those speculating that Wall Street will make billions off the Colorado River or that West Slope farmers should pack it in now, certainly attracts readers. Unfortunately, these articles wholly fail to convey the reality of the water challenges facing the Colorado River Basin. … The Colorado River is certainly in bad shape. Last year was marked by extremely hot temperatures, low flows and massive fires.

Written by Dan Keppen, executive director of Family Farm Alliance; Scott Yates, director of Trout Unlimited’s Western Water & Habitat Program; and Taylor Hawes, Colorado River Program director for The Nature Conservancy.

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Aquafornia news January 19, 2021 Arizona Republic

Activists want Biden to protect Grand Canyon, restore national monuments

Wind rustles the barbed fence surrounding Canyon Mine as Amber Reimondo patrols its perimeter. For the last four years under the Trump administration, Reimondo, the energy director for the Grand Canyon Trust, has worked to make the temporary Obama-era uranium mining ban around the Grand Canyon permanent. So far, her efforts have not paid off.  But with an impending change in presidents, Reimondo hopes change is in the wind. 

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Aquafornia news January 15, 2021 Craig Daily Press

Rio Blanco secures water right for dam-and-reservoir project

Six years after the application was filed, a judge has granted a water conservancy district in northwest Colorado a water right for a new dam-and-reservoir project that top state engineers had opposed. Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District now has a 66,720 acre-foot conditional water right to build a dam and reservoir between Rangely and Meeker, known as the White River storage project or the Wolf Creek project. The conservancy district is proposing an off-channel reservoir with a dam 110 feet tall and 3,800 feet long, with water that will be pumped from the White River. 

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Aquafornia news January 15, 2021 Boulder Weekly

Tribal leaders engage Colorado Senator Bennet to ensure universal access to clean water on reservations

Lorelei Cloud is a member of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, a relatively small tribe of 1,500 members, 1,000 of which live on the tribe’s reservation covering a little more than 1,000 square miles south of Durango abutting the border with New Mexico. Cloud’s experience is not uncommon in tribal homes across the country, as nearly 48% of them — representing more than half a million people — do not have “access to reliable water sources, clean drinking water or basic sanitation,” according to a 2017 congressional report. 

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Aquafornia news January 15, 2021 Public News Service

Satellite data, teamwork help chart future of Colorado River basin

The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the American West, but the viability of the massive river basin is being threatened by climate change. To plan future water use in the region — which includes Arizona — the Central Arizona Project is teaming up with NASA and Arizona State University, to evaluate how climate and land-use changes will affect patterns of hydrology. Using state-of-the-art satellite imaging, scientists will measure and evaluate how water flows throughout the basin. 

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Aquafornia news January 15, 2021 Greeley Tribune

Opinion: We need to collaborate to protect the Colorado River from drought, speculation

Colorado is headwaters to a hardworking river that provides for 40 million people. The importance of the Colorado River to the state and the nation cannot be overstated, and its recent hydrology serves as a reminder that we must continue to find workable solutions that will sustain the river. History shows that we are up to the challenge. … Colorado and the other Basin states face big challenges. Drier hydrology, competing demands on the river, and those who seek to profit from such circumstances, impact the types of tools available to address these challenges. 
Written by Rebecca Mitchell, who serves as the state of Colorado’s Colorado River Commissioner as well as director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. 

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Aquafornia news January 15, 2021 Arizona State University

Blog: New research director for Kyl Center focused on equity in water access

Arizona depends heavily on the Colorado River, and it is over-allocated, meaning, we collectively take more water from the system than nature puts in. To make matters worse, the Colorado River basin has been experiencing a prolonged drought of more than 20 years. When you take the longer term view, a lot of communities in Arizona are heavily dependent on fossil groundwater supplies. Once you pump them out, they’re gone forever. There are real problems looming when it comes to groundwater management and the Colorado River.

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Aquafornia news January 14, 2021 Axios

Thursday Top of the Scroll: A “forever” drought takes shape in the West

The Southwest U.S. is mired in an ever-worsening drought, one that has left deer starving in Hawaii, turned parts of the Rio Grande into a wading pool, and set a record in Colorado for the most days of “exceptional drought.” Why it matters: These conditions may be the new normal rather than an exception, water experts say, as climate change runs its course. And worsening drought will intensify political and legal battles over water — with dire consequences for poor communities.

Related articles: 

  • Sierra Sun-Times: California and National Drought Summary for January 12, 2021
  • East Bay Times: Drought taking toll on Piedmont’s trees, parks panel told
  • LA Times: Warm, dry conditions will elevate fire danger in Southland, forecasters say
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: 2020 was Earth’s 2nd-hottest year, just behind 2016​ 
  • NRDC blog: Shattering records, climate disasters fueled misery in 2020 
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Aquafornia news January 14, 2021 UC California Naturalist

Blog: Have you heard the story of Lake Cahuilla?

The building of dams on the Colorado River has forever changed the ebb and flow, flooding, drying and renewal cycle of what was once Lake Cahuilla, changing its character and changing its name to the Salton Sea. Entrepreneurs once thought that the Salton Sea would become a sportsman’s mecca, providing fishing, boating, and waterskiing experiences like no other. There were a few decades where that dream seemed to be true. Then it wasn’t.

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Aquafornia news January 14, 2021 Denver Post

Opinion: Collaboration will protect the Colorado River from drought and speculation alike

Colorado is headwaters to a hardworking river that provides for 40 million people. The importance of the Colorado River to the state and the nation cannot be overstated, and its recent hydrology serves as a reminder that we must continue to find workable solutions that will sustain the river. History shows that we are up to the challenge. As Colorado’s commissioner and lead negotiator on Colorado River issues, it is my job to protect Colorado’s interests in the river.
-Written by Rebecca Mitchell, Colorado’s current Colorado River Commissioner and director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board.  

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Aquafornia news January 14, 2021 Desert Sun

Salton Sea habitat project breaks ground near New River

Construction began this week on a 4,110-acre wetlands project on the Salton Sea’s playa near the mouth of the highly polluted New River, the California Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday. Called the Species Conservation Habitat Project, the $206.5 million plan will build ponds and wetlands along the small delta to provide wildlife habitat and suppress dust. The final design includes 340 additional acres of coverage as compared to older projections, and work led by Kiewit Infrastructure West Co. is expected to be finished by 2024.

Related article:

  • Audubon California news release: State Habitat Restoration Project Breaks Ground at Southern End of Salton Sea
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Aquafornia news January 13, 2021 Magic Valley

Opinion: Writers on the Range – Who calls the shots on the Colorado River?

If there’s a dominant force in the Colorado River Basin these days, it’s the Walton Family Foundation, flush with close to $5 billion to give away. Run by the heirs of Walmart founder Sam Walton, the foundation donates $25 million a year to nonprofits concerned about the Colorado River. It’s clear the foundation cares deeply about the river in this time of excruciating drought, and some of its money goes to river restoration or more efficient irrigation. Yet its main interest is promoting “demand management,” the water marketing scheme that seeks to add 500,000 acre-feet of water to declining Lake Powell by paying rural farmers to temporarily stop irrigating.

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Aquafornia news January 12, 2021 Financial Times

In California, a journey to the end of the road

I came to the Salton Sea as part of the research for a new book about the ecology and psychology of abandoned places, an investigation into how nature can adapt and recover in the long shadow cast by human activities. It had taken me to some of the world’s most eerie, ravaged and polluted sites — from the disaster zones of Chernobyl and Montserrat, to former frontlines in Cyprus and Verdun, Detroit’s blighted neighbourhoods and a Scottish island whose last residents left in 1974. The Salton Sea — its seaside resorts left landlocked by shrinking waters, its boats rotting in the bowls of dry marinas — felt a fitting final destination.

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Aquafornia news January 12, 2021 NBC 7 San Diego

Valve opening sends billions of gallons of water from Loveland to Sweetwater Reservoir

A valve at the base of the Loveland Dam near Alpine was opened Monday, allowing billions of gallons of water to thunder down the valley toward Sweetwater Reservoir in Spring Valley. “It’s a spectacle that is hard to forget,” said Hector Martinez, Chairman of the Sweetwater Authority “Very powerful! I almost feel the ground shaking when the water is being released.” The gushing valve is a sight to behold, and thanks to the massive transfer, South Bay water customers might be looking at their water bills with similar amazement.

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Aquafornia news January 12, 2021 Yale Climate Connections

Drought-stricken Colorado River Basin could see additional 20% drop in water flow by 2050

Colorado is no stranger to drought. The current one is closing in on 20 years, and a rainy or snowy season here and there won’t change the trajectory. This is what climate change has brought. “Aridification” is what Bradley Udall formally calls the situation in the western U.S. But perhaps more accurately, he calls it hot drought – heat-induced lack of water due to climate change.

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Aquafornia news January 12, 2021 American Rivers

Blog: Can Wall Street profit off the Colorado River?

The convergence of a multi-decadal, climate-fueled drought, a trillion-dollar river-dependent economy, and a region with growth aspirations that rival any place in the country has peaked speculative interest in owning and profiting from Colorado River water. 

Related article: 

  • CBC: Can Wall Street help us find the true price of water?​
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Aquafornia news January 11, 2021 S&P Global Market Intelligence

Desert pipeline tests Colorado River’s future

Utah officials want to build a 140-mile-long pipeline to bring precious Colorado River water west to the thriving town of St. George, in the state’s far southwestern corner. In an era of perennial drought, when the future of the Colorado River watershed, the lifeline of the U.S. Southwest, is the subject of fierce debate in state capitols across the region, the idea of bringing more than 26 billion gallons of water a year to a community of fewer than 200,000 people on the edge of the Mojave Desert strikes many as folly. To officials in Washington County, of which St. George is the county seat, though, it is a critical resource for the future.

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Aquafornia news January 8, 2021 The Colorado Sun

Colorado’s statewide drought “pretty dire.” It’ll take more than a season’s snowfall to get out of it

It may be a new year, but Colorado’s statewide drought will be baggage it carries well into 2021. More than a quarter of the state is in the worst level of drought, and with snowpack significantly below what’s expected this time of year — especially on the Western Slope — scientists are warning that it will take more than just a big snowstorm to alleviate this dry spell.

Related article:

  • Fox21 News: Colorado River getting a boost: New project adding water to 15-Mile Reach​
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Aquafornia news January 7, 2021 Agri-Pulse

California’s water wars serve as a ‘bellwether’ for Colorado River negotiations

After three decades of water wars in Southern California, policy experts hope a new era in collaborative management will offer inspiration for the ongoing and complex negotiations over Colorado River allocations amid a historic and deepening drought. “Those lessons need to catapult us forward,” said Patricia Mulroy, former head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, during the fall meeting for the Association of California Water Agencies in December. “These states, these constituencies, these communities cannot afford for these discussions to crater. Failure is not an option.”

Related article:

  • S&P Global: Desert pipeline tests Colorado River’s future 
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Aquafornia news January 6, 2021 KJZZ

Communities concerned as private companies buy Colorado River water rights

The old axiom goes, “Whiskey’s for drinkin’ and water’s for fightin’” — it reflects the never-ending horse-trading that involves distribution of water in the arid Southwest and the tug of war between the region’s agricultural communities and the ever-growing urban centers, including Las Vegas, Phoenix and areas of Southern California. Traditionally, water rights have been brokered by state and local governments, as well as regional water districts. This is changing, though, as private equity firms have been purchasing water rights in localities along the Colorado River, from the Western Rockies through the valleys of Southern California.

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Aquafornia news January 5, 2021 Circle of Blue

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: Four water stories to watch in 2021

Now that the calendar has flipped to January 2021, it’s time to say goodbye to the mess of the past year, yes? … The pandemic’s economic dislocation continues to reverberate among those who lost work. Severe weather boosted by a warming climate is leaving its mark in the watersheds of the Southwest [including the Colorado River]. And President-elect Biden will take office looking to undo much of his predecessor’s legacy of environmental deregulation while also writing his own narrative on issues of climate, infrastructure, and social justice….Litigation over toxic PFAS compounds found in rivers, lakes, and groundwater is already active. Lawsuits are likely to continue at a brisk pace…

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Aquafornia news January 4, 2021 Colorado Springs Gazette

Monday Top of the Scroll: Colorado River management may change under Biden administration

The new Biden administration could take action on the Colorado River that would go well beyond the president-elect’s term in office. The week of Dec. 14, the seven states that are part of the Colorado River Compact began the first step for renegotiating guidelines that will decide how much water the three lower basin states and Mexico will get from Lake Mead, on the Arizona-Nevada border, and from Mead’s source, the Colorado River.

Related articles:

  • Los Angeles Times: Climate change spells trouble for the Colorado River. But there’s still hope
  • Arizona Republic: In Colorado River’s headwaters, climate change drives efforts to adapt
  • KUNC: Farmers Swap Out Irrigation Methods To Keep The Colorado River From Growing Saltier
  • KUNC: Here’s What It Takes To Keep Colorado River Fish From Going Extinct
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Aquafornia news January 4, 2021 The New York Times

Wall Street eyes billions in the Colorado River’s water

There is a myth about water in the Western United States, which is that there is not enough of it. But those who deal closely with water will tell you this is false. There is plenty. It is just in the wrong places…Transferring water from agricultural communities to cities, though often contentious, is not a new practice. Much of the West, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas, was made by moving water. What is new is for private investors — in this case an investment fund in Phoenix, with owners on the East Coast — to exert that power.

Related article:

  • Los Angeles Times: Opinion – Wall Street sees how to profit from water scarcity
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Aquafornia news December 21, 2020 Bureau of Reclamation

New Release: Reclamation selects Wayne Pullan as Upper Colorado Basin regional director

Wayne Pullan has been named regional director of the Upper Colorado Basin Region. Pullan, who has more than 25 years of Reclamation experience, leads 800 Reclamation professionals who manage 82 projects and dams, including 19 hydroelectric powerplants. Those facilities provide water to approximately 5.7 million people living in the region and electricity for almost 6 million power users.

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Aquafornia news December 21, 2020 Water Education Foundation

Drought, climate change and groundwater sustainability – Western Water news year in review

The ability of science to improve water management decisions and keep up with the accelerating pace of climate change. The impact to precious water resources from persistent drought in the Colorado River Basin. Building resilience and sustainability across California. And finding hope at the Salton Sea. These were among the issues Western Water explored in 2020. In case you missed them, they are still worth taking a look at.

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Aquafornia news December 21, 2020 The Associated Press

More must be done to protect Colorado River from drought, US says

A set of guidelines for managing the Colorado River helped several states through a dry spell, but it’s not enough to keep key reservoirs in the American West from plummeting amid persistent drought and climate change, according to a U.S. report released Friday.

Related articles:

  • Bureau of Reclamation news release:Reclamation completes review of Colorado River operations for Lakes Powell and Mead
  • KUNC: Amid Drying Conditions, Colorado River Basin States Kick Off Negotiations On Future Policies
  • KUNC: Colorado River Basin winter forecast signals dry times ahead
  • Opinion: Why do we need the Lake Powell Pipeline when we’re throwing so much water away?
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Aquafornia news December 18, 2020 KSUT Public Radio

Colorado River Basin winter forecast signals dry times ahead

All signs are pointing to a dry start to 2021 across much of the Colorado River watershed, which provides water to about 40 million people in the Western U.S. A lack of precipitation from April to October made this spring, summer and fall one of the region’s driest six-month periods on record. And with a dry start to winter, river forecasters feel more pessimistic about the chances for a drought recovery in the early part of 2021.

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Aquafornia news December 18, 2020 Phys.org

Blog: Researchers solve a Colorado River mystery

New scientific literature is providing insights into the origins of the Colorado River, using data from ancient sedimentary deposits located east of the San Andreas fault near the Salton Sea in Southern California. The papers present evidence that the now desert landscape of the river’s lower valley was submerged roughly 5 million to 6 million years ago under shallow seas with strong, fluctuating tidal currents that flowed back and forth along the trajectory of the present-day river.

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Aquafornia news December 17, 2020 KJZZ

Thursday Top of the Scroll: Drought keeps Lake Mead levels low

Last week’s storm did little to ease the drought in Arizona’s reservoirs. But there’s still plenty of winter left. The Bureau of Reclamation makes two-year projections, based on weather and water levels in Colorado River reservoirs, and its most recent projections have been dire. That could set the stage for an Arizona water shortage in 2022. Snowpack in the mountains is now 69% of normal. The water level at Lake Mead is about 40%.

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Aquafornia news December 15, 2020 Arizona Republic

Hopi Tribe pushes for solutions for many without clean drinking water

The Hopi have long lacked adequate drinking water. In parts of the reservation, the water that flows from taps is contaminated with toxic arsenic at levels that exceed the federal standard. And in homes without running water, many families get by using what little they haul from communal faucets, which can amount to less than 2 gallons a day per person.  

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Aquafornia news December 15, 2020 Payson Roundup

Drought tightens its grip on the Southwest

The drought’s getting worse and the reservoirs are drying up. Best get used to it, say a growing number of climate prediction models. The whole of the southwest remains in the grip of a severe drought. In Arizona, that means a failed monsoon season followed by a so-far dry fall. Much of Arizona set records on both fronts this year. The predicted storms this week did little to cushion the blow of a bone-dry year, with water experts predicting more water rationing next year together with a dangerous fire season.

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Aquafornia news December 14, 2020 The Spectrum

Opinion: Utah must follow Nevada’s lead on water management

Many in Utah think of Las Vegas as a colony of water waste. Fountains, swimming pools, golf courses and lawns come to mind. While those things exist, they are not as widespread as they once were – nor as profligate. Today, Southern Nevada, with a small share of the Colorado River and limited groundwater, is an emblem of responsible water use. Southern Utah is not. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
-Written by Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network.

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Aquafornia news December 14, 2020 The Colorado Sun

Opinion: Colorado’s intensifying drought conditions call for urgent collaboration

The entire Colorado River Basin within Colorado is experiencing “extreme” or “exceptional” drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.  The next few months are predicted to be warmer and drier than normal, which will further reduce snowpack runoff into our reservoirs even with a normal snowpack this winter. Unfortunately, 2020 is not an anomaly; rather, it is a harbinger of a future to which we must adapt. 

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Aquafornia news December 14, 2020 The Associated Press

Arizona tribe proposes federal law to lease its water rights

The Colorado River Indian Tribes near Parker is proposing a federal law to allow it to lease water rights in Arizona, a move that could aid the state’s response to the drought. The tribe said in public hearings on Dec. 7 and Dec. 10 that it would use the money raised from leasing Colorado River water to bolster services to its members, including for health care, education, elder programs and law enforcement.

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Aquafornia news December 14, 2020 Grand Junction Sentinel

Bureau of Reclamation looks to possible end of Paradox desalination project

A highly effective but problematic Colorado River desalination project in western Montrose County’s Paradox Valley could come to an end due to the federal Bureau of Reclamation’s difficulty finding an acceptable means of continuing it.

Related article:

  • Grand Junction Sentinel: Lining canals to cut for salinity also boosts efficiency
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Aquafornia news December 11, 2020 Montrose Press

Opinion: No more Band-Aids — river compact needs replacing

California has really demonstrated that it needs less Colorado River water. It’s taken a while, but it has been a really successful adaptation. And that is my point (or are my points). For Colorado to spend more money that we do not have in order to pay farmers to take crop land out of production, thereby degrading the economy of the ag sector in our state, is an exercise in utter foolishness.

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Aquafornia news December 11, 2020 Fresh Water News

Colorado activates municipal drought response for second time ever as water forecast worsens

The state of Colorado has activated the municipal portion of its emergency drought plan for only the second time in history as several cities say they need to prepare for what is almost certainly going to be a dangerously dry 2021.

Related article: 

  • Tucson Sentinel: Vail Resorts’ plans to cancel cloud seeding threatens water levels on Colorado River 
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Aquafornia news December 10, 2020 Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

News release: Metropolitan Water District, Southern Nevada Water Authority collaborate to explore development of recycled water project

In a bold step toward a new kind of collaboration in the Colorado River Basin, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and Southern Nevada Water Authority are partnering to explore development of a drought-proof water supply that could reduce reliance on the over-stressed river.

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Aquafornia news December 9, 2020 Havasu News

Tribes seek act of Congress to sell Colorado river water

The Colorado River Indian Tribes are proposing federal legislation that would allow CRIT to lease a portion of its first priority Colorado River water rights in Arizona to outside interests within the state. The Tribe says the legislation would help drought relief efforts in Arizona while presenting economic opportunities for tribal members.

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