Serving 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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….
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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….
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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?
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[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.
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…
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.”
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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%.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
