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Topic: Colorado River

Overview April 24, 2014

Colorado River

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

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

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

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Aquafornia news September 29, 2023 U.S. Department of the Interior

News release: Biden-Harris Administration makes $328 million available for drought and climate resiliency projects

The Department of the Interior today announced up to $328 million in funding opportunities available through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, a key pillar of Bidenomics, to help communities address impacts of climate change through water recycling, water storage and desalination projects. The funds come primarily from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s WaterSMART and Small Storage programs, as well as through annual appropriations, and the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act. President Biden’s Investing in America agenda represents the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history and is providing much-needed resources to enhance Western communities’ resilience to drought and climate change, including protecting the short- and long-term sustainability of the Colorado River System.

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Aquafornia news September 29, 2023 KRQE - Albuquerque

Survey shows New Mexicans don’t always agree on water solutions

Water is becoming less reliable in some areas along the Colorado River, and a new survey shows that not everyone is on the same page when it comes to how to deal with shortages. The Western Landowners Alliance surveyed over 1,000 people along the Colorado River basin, including New Mexicans. The results show a majority of those surveyed were very concerned about new constraints on their water use. Many in the basin area are already adjusting their water use practices to better conserve water, the survey shows. But New Mexicans are split on adopting additional measures in response to a water shortage.

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Aquafornia news September 29, 2023 Arizona Republic

Gilbert and SRP partner to offer up to $6,000 grass removal rebates

Gilbert and Salt River Project are teaming up to give local town businesses up to $6,000 in rebates. Over the next five years, the town and SRP will allocate up to $75,000 for a grass removal rebate program. It’s part of the town’s sustainability efforts for water conservation as levels in the Colorado River continue to lower and water reductions are debated. At the start of the year, Susan Pasternack and her neighbors in the Groves of Gilbert HOA were looking at ways to save water. That’s when they learn about the rebate programs Gilbert has for non-residential grass removal.

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Aquafornia news September 28, 2023 USA Today

Where does the Colorado River start? Mapping the stream from the headwaters to the basins

The Colorado River crosses seven states and Mexico and is 1,450 miles long – the sixth longest in the nation according to river conservation organization American Rivers. More than a natural spectacle, the river supplies drinking water for one in 10 Americans and just half of the river water nourishes nearly 90% of the nation’s winter vegetable crops. But the constant demand means the river also faces aridification and overconsumption. Here’s everything you need to know about the river many call the “lifeline of the Southwest.”

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Aquafornia news September 27, 2023 Colorado Sun

After a wet water year, can Colorado hope for a repeat? Not quite.

As March rolled into April, Ken Beck was keeping his eye on the snowdrifts piled on slopes around Vallecito Reservoir in Colorado’s southwestern mountains. Snow reports showed there was about 300,000 acre-feet of water in that snow waiting to flow into the reservoir, he said. … Beck, superintendent of the Pine River Irrigation District, which manages the reservoir located northeast of Durango … was in good company: Reservoir managers around the state saw water levels rise this year, a boon to downstream users who depend on stored water for drinking, growing crops, supporting industries and managing ecosystems. And as the year progressed, precipitation just kept coming in the form of rain, hail and severe storms.

Related articles: 

  • Arizona Republic: Arizona’s monsoon will end as one of the hottest and driest on record. What happened?
  • Bloomberg: What Is El Niño and How Does it Affect Weather Around the World?
  • Bloomberg: El Niño Is Creating Fear and Mystery This Year - Weather Watch
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Aquafornia news September 27, 2023 KUNC - Greely, Colo

Colorado River growers say they’re ready to save water, but need to build trust with states and feds

The Colorado River is in trouble, and farmers and ranchers are on the front lines of the crisis. A new report surveyed more than 1,020 irrigators across six of the seven states that use the river’s water: Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. About 70% said they are already responding to water shortages but many identified a trust gap with state and federal agencies that are trying to incentivize further water savings. The report, from the Western Landowners Alliance and the University of Wyoming’s Ruckelshaus Institute, sheds light on attitudes in an industry that has an outsized role in the fate of the Colorado River.

Related articles: 

  • Growing Produce: Why compromise should not be a dirty word for farmers
  • Phys.org: Feds’ cash stream supports Colorado River conservation—but the money will dry up
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Aquafornia news September 26, 2023 KUNC - Greeley, Colo

Officials are on alert after the rusty crawfish shows up near the Colorado River

Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced the discovery of an invasive crayfish species in Lake Granby. The rusty crayfish, named for reddish spots on its shell, hasn’t been seen in the state in over a decade. The agency is on high alert because of Lake Granby’s proximity to the Colorado River, and is now focused on stopping the crayfish from spreading further. … Walters said the invaders eat small fish, insects and fish eggs, which disrupts the aquatic food web. They can also eat plants on the bottom of the reservoir, which serve as critical habitat for fish spawning and food for native wildlife.

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Aquafornia news September 26, 2023 Arizona Republic

What’s being done to protect the Southwest’s dwindling water supply? A new online tool shows you

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have created a searchable atlas that compiles regional research and efforts to deal with water scarcity and drought. The map, called the Water Adaptation Techniques Atlas, was developed by the agency’s Southwest and California Climate Hubs and so far contains 183 case studies from Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada and Utah. … The map offers a range of case studies, many of them related to agricultural and ranching practices, crop choice, and irrigation methods. Silber-Coats hopes it can be a resource for agricultural professionals and advisers, like cooperative extension workers.

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Aquafornia news September 26, 2023 KUNC - Greeley, Colo

Colorado River’s Upper Basin will re-up a plan that pays farmers and ranchers to use less water

Some states in the arid West are looking to invest more money in water conservation. Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico have agreed to re-up a water conservation program designed to reduce strain on the Colorado River. Those states, which represent the river’s Upper Basin, will use money from the Inflation Reduction Act to pay farmers and ranchers to use less water. The four states are re-implementing the program amid talks with California, Arizona, Nevada and the federal government to come up with more permanent water reductions by 2026.

Related articles: 

  • Oil City News: New survey of Colorado River Basin irrigators points to challenges, pathways for agricultural water conservation
  • Arizona Capital Times: Water cuts force Pinal County farmers to scale back
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Aquafornia news September 25, 2023 Aspen Journalism

Colorado River managers vote to continue conservation program, with tweaks, in 2024

Colorado River managers [last week] decided to continue a water conservation program designed to protect critical elevations in the nation’s two largest reservoirs. The Upper Colorado River Commission decided unanimously to continue the federally funded System Conservation Program in 2024 — but with a narrower scope that explores demand management concepts and supports innovation and local drought resiliency on a longer-term basis. … The System Conservation Program is paying water users in the four upper basin states — Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah — to voluntarily cut back with $125 million from the Inflation Reduction Act. According to Upper Colorado River Commission officials, nearly $16.1 million was spent on system conservation in 2023. 

Related article: 

  • Telluride Daily Planet: Western states vote to narrow focus of Colorado River program
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Aquafornia news September 25, 2023 Arizona Capitol Times

Tribal water infrastructure needs more than one-time fix, senators told

The infusion of federal money for infrastructure projects is a welcome first step toward fixing deep problems with water systems on tribal lands, but it’s only a first step, an Arizona official testified Wednesday [Sept. 25]. Brian Bennon, director of the tribal water department at the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, said tribes need to make sure they have funding for operation and maintenance of the systems to keep them going … Bennon was joined by Ken Norton, director of the Hoopa Valley Tribal Environmental Protection Agency, and Jola WallowingBull, director of the Northern Arapaho Tribal Engineering Department, to testify on the problems that come with underfunding of Native water systems.

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Aquafornia news September 22, 2023 CBS News

As California’s toxic Salton Sea shrinks, it’s raising health alarms for the surrounding community

Damien Lopez, age 4, has symptoms that many people who live near Southern California’s Salton Sea also have. “His cough gets very wheezy. I try to control him,” his mother Michelle Lopez said. … A 2019 University of Southern California study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that between 20% and 22% of children in the region have asthma-like symptoms, a little more than triple the national rate for asthma, according to numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. David Lo, a professor of biomedical sciences at the University of California, Riverside, led a university study last year that determined the Salton Sea itself is responsible for the high incidence of asthma for those who live near it. 

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Aquafornia news September 20, 2023 Voice of San Diego

Biggest players in Western water politics gather at Politifest 2023  

It’s been 20 years since the largest water agencies in Southern California agreed on a historic deal: San Diego would buy water from Imperial Valley farmers. More importantly, though, the deal outlined exactly how much water these agencies could claim from the Colorado River and reduced the amount of water California took from the river.   It quantified the water (why it’s called the Quantification Settlement Agreement) and put a price on water rights for the first time. … Voice of San Diego and CalMatters will be gathering top water officials from Southern California, Nevada and Arizona to discuss the past (the historic 2003 settlement) and the future (the needed deal for the Colorado River) at 2023 Politifest, Oct. 7 at University of San Diego. 

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Aquafornia news September 20, 2023 Stateline

Feds’ cash stream supports Colorado River conservation — but the money will dry up

Despite a megadrought, states in the West have been able to avoid drastic cuts to their allocations of Colorado River water this year not only because of surprising storms but also thanks to generous financial incentives from all levels of government that have encouraged people to conserve. The temporary Colorado River water-sharing agreement that Arizona, California and Nevada announced in May depends on an injection of $1.2 billion from the federal government. Some of the 30 tribal nations in the river basin also are getting federal dollars. The Gila River Indian Community, for example, will receive $233 million from the feds over the next three years, mostly to conserve water. Fueled by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the feds will spend a total of $15.4 billion for drought resiliency programs …

Related articles: 

  • Fox 5 – Las Vegas: Once-exposed boats in Lake Mead covered by water again, but progress is minimal amid drought
  • KTAR – Phoenix: ‘Cloud seeding’ offers water generation possibilities for Arizona
  • KJZZ – Tempe: ‘Fill Mead First’ proposal picking up steam as Colorado River faces ongoing drought
  • Colorado Public Radio: Southern Colorado property owners are starting to receive notices of illegal ponds. Here’s why hundreds of them may need to go
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Aquafornia news September 19, 2023 KKCO - Grand Junction, CO

Colorado Parks and Wildlife finds invasive species in Upper Colorado River Basin

Colorado Parks and Wildlife found an invasive species in Lake Granby. Multiple rusty crayfish were found at Lake Granby during routine aquatic sampling on August 17th. According to CPW, rusty crayfish have been found west of the continental divide before, but this is the first time they have been found in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Crayfish are not native west of the Continental Divide. Lake Granby feeds into the Colorado River and having the invasive crayfish in there can pose a threat to the river’s ecosystem.

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Aquafornia news September 19, 2023 Jfleck@inkstain

Blog: Lower Basin use on track to be lowest in nearly four decades

I’ve emerged from my cozy book writing cave (The new book’s going well, thanks for asking!) to some stunningly optimistic Lower Colorado River Basin water use data. Forecast use in 2023 (based on the Sept. 18 USBR forecast model) has dropped below 6 million acre feet, currently just 79 percent of the total baseline Lower Basin allocation of 7.5 million acre feet. Californians are on track for their lowest take on the river since 1949, according to my crazy stitched-together dataset (USBR decree accounting reports plus pre-1964 numbers assembled some time ago by some folks at MWD). Arizona and Nevada’s use is the lowest its been since 1992. Relative to their baseline allocations, Arizona (at 69 percent) and Nevada (at 65 percent) are still doing the heaviest lifting, but California (at 86 percent) is seriously pitching in too.

Related articles: 

  • Newsweek: Plan to completely drain Lake Powell sparks backlash
  • St. George News: Reclamation adjusting minimum water releases from Glen Canyon Dam to help promote boater safety 
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Aquafornia news September 19, 2023 Arizona State University

News release: Water sustainability at center of new mixed-reality game

With no end in sight for Arizona’s megadrought, many researchers at Arizona State University are developing innovations to mitigate the drought’s effects on residents, agriculture and industry, and promote water resilience and security. Claire Lauer, a professor of technical communication in the School of Applied Professional Studies, part of the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (CISA) at ASU’s Polytechnic campus, is applying her knowledge of user experience, or UX, and Arizona’s water landscape to educate the public about the intricacies of water usage because “there’s a lot of misinformation about water out there,” she said. “Educating the public on water management will help communities make informed decisions, which can have a huge effect on Arizona’s water policies and conservation efforts.”

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Aquafornia news September 19, 2023 Grist

Deprived of Colorado River water, an oil company’s plans to mine in Utah may have dried up

The Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah is one of the richest oil shale deposits in the country. It is estimated to hold more proven reserves than all of Saudi Arabia. Enefit, an Estonian company, was the latest in a long line of firms that hoped to tap it. It’s also the latest to see such plans collapse — but perhaps not yet for good. The company has lost access to the water it would need to unearth the petroleum and relinquished a federal lease that allowed research and exploration on the land. The two moves, made late last month, appear to signal the end of Enefit’s plans to mine shale oil in the Uinta Basin.

Related article: 

  • Santa Barbara Independent: Leaks or seeps? Big tar balls abundant on Santa Barbara beaches
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Aquafornia news September 18, 2023 Arizona Capitol Times

State considers using effluent water credits

The Arizona Water Banking Authority is exploring the possibility of buying purified wastewater to distribute later – which would be unprecedented. At the AWBA commission’s meeting on Sept. 13, new bank manager Rebecca Bernat asked whether she should look into the possibility of the bank using effluent water credits. Until 2019, AWBA has only used excess Colorado River water long-term storage credits. That’s for the Central Arizona Project water stored in aquifers. Users can get the water later during a potential shortage by pumping it back out.

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Aquafornia news September 18, 2023 Newsweek

Will Lake Mead water levels rise again? What we know about El Niño

Last week, Lake Mead water levels started to even out after experiencing a steep increase for the last five months, but it isn’t expected to last for long. After years of drought, Lake Mead, which is in Nevada and Arizona, reached drastically low levels last summer, prompting fears that a dead pool—the point where water levels are too low to flow downstream—would occur much sooner than originally thought. Water levels started to recover this year because of above-average precipitation and snowpack that melted throughout the summer. The lake has since recovered more than 20 feet, supplemented at times by excessive rainfall such as that from storm Hilary in August. AccuWeather meteorologist Alex DaSilva told Newsweek that he doesn’t expect the lake to rise much more this water year, which ends September 30.

Related articles: 

  • Newsweek: What Lake Mohave’s water level change means for Lake Mead’s future
  • KNAU – Arizona Public Radio: Minimum releases in Glen Canyon Dam raised for boater safety
  • Morning Ag Clips: Legislators to discuss Colorado drought pathways​
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Aquafornia news September 15, 2023 Business Insider

Las Vegas wants to ensure firms have a water-conservation plan

Las Vegas isn’t just a hot spot for revelers. Thousands of businesses, particularly from California, have moved to the region over the past few decades, and the population is booming alongside other Southwestern cities. All of that growth in a region plagued by extreme heat, drought, and a dwindling water supply raises tough questions for city and state officials who want to spur economic growth without draining the Colorado River dry. In one example of that challenge, Arizona’s governor in June halted construction in areas around Phoenix, citing a lack of groundwater.

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Aquafornia news September 15, 2023 Desert Sun

Colorado River water – Abattis lose latest bid to pry control from IID

Imperial County’s largest farming family has lost again in its years-long bid to gain control of valuable Colorado River water allocations associated with its land. The Imperial Irrigation District on Tuesday won a motion to dismiss a case by Mike Abatti and several relatives, close friends and business associates that closely mirrored an ultimately unsuccessful series of cases they had brought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear their petition in 2021. U.S. Southern District Court Judge Michael Anello, based in San Diego, issued the motion to dismiss the new case after hearing oral arguments from both sides a week ago, based on res judicata, a legal term meaning that the matter already had been judged.

Related articles: 

  • Deseret News: A Utah water cycle - From dams to alfalfa to yogurt
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  • Read more
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Aquafornia news September 14, 2023 KSJD - Aspen Public Radio

State wildlife biologists in Utah aim to boost population of roundtail chub

Wildlife biologists in Utah are trying to bolster the state’s population of roundtail chub, a fish endemic to the Colorado River system. The fish is listed as a sensitive species in Utah due to habitat loss and competition with invasive species. About 30 round tailed chub were released recently into the Old City Park pond in Moab as part of a statewide project to boost the native fish population. Tyler Arnold, a wildlife biologist with the Division of Wildlife Resources in Utah, says roundtail, like many of our native species in the Colorado River system, have been on the decline.

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Aquafornia news September 14, 2023 8 News - Las Vegas

Thursday Top of the Scroll: Lake Mead’s rise levels off after 5-month climb — 34% full as an incredible water year nears its end

Leveling off after steady increases since early April, Lake Mead appears to have reached its peak for the year — more than 22 feet above last year. … Average daily levels computed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation show the surface of Lake Mead at 1,066.32 feet above sea level on Thursday, Sept. 7. Since then, it has hovered around the same level and come down slightly, now at 1,066.25 feet as of midday Wednesday.

Related articles: 

  • Newsweek: Nevada official wants to completely drain Lake Powell
  • Civil Eats: Farming in dry places - Investors continue to speculate on Colorado water
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 Colorado Politics

Colorado lawmakers, officials grapple with U.S. Supreme Court ruling on wetlands

The 2024 legislative session is likely to see lawmakers trying to figure out how to protect Colorado wetlands following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that applied a more stringent test on what should be considered one. A panel of legislators last month heard pleas from municipal and state officials to come up with a policy to continue to protect the state’s wetlands in light of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, a case that redefined the terms by which a body of water can get protection under the Environmental Protection Agency’s “Waters of the United States” rule.

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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 KLAS - Las Vegas

Salton Sea obligations cited in letter as government formulates Colorado River plan

California’s largest lake didn’t even exist 120 years ago, but now it looms large over questions about how to manage the Colorado River. Depending on who you ask, the Salton Sea is either an important wildlife ecosystem or an environmental disaster that’s ticking like a time bomb — 50% saltier than the Pacific Ocean and a major source of dust as water recedes. The Salton Sea Authority, an organization created 30 years ago to work with the state of California to oversee comprehensive restoration of the lake, filed an 11-page response to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to lend its voice to decisions about the future of the Colorado River.

Related article: 

  • Sen. Steve Padilla: News release – Legislation Accelerating Salton Sea Restoration Efforts Passes Assembly Floor
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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 Colorado Public Radio

Federal fish conservation programs have found success in Western Colorado, but they’re swimming upstream in Congress this year

A popular federal effort to protect threatened Western fish is in murky waters as stakeholders await Congressional action on reauthorization.  The Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program has for 30 years sought to restore four species that once thrived in the river: the razorback sucker, Colorado pikeminnow, bonytail and humpback chub. A sister effort, the San Juan River Basin Recovery Implementation Program, works to restore the same fish in the Four Corners region. The species are imperiled by human-wrought habitat disruption, like dams, and preyed upon and out-competed by introduced species like rainbow and brown trout.

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Aquafornia news September 13, 2023 AP News

Dry states taking Mississippi River water isn’t a new idea. But some mayors want to kill it

Community leaders along the Mississippi River worried that dry southwestern states will someday try to take the river’s water may soon take their first step toward blocking such a diversion. Mayors from cities along the river are expected to vote on whether to support a new compact among the river’s 10 states at this week’s annual meeting of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, according to its executive director Colin Wellenkamp. Supporters of a compact hope it will strengthen the region’s collective power around shared goals like stopping water from leaving the corridor. 

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Aquafornia news September 12, 2023 The Conversation

What Arizona and other drought-ridden states can learn from Israel’s pioneering water strategy

Arizona is one of the fastest-growing states in the U.S., with an economy that offers many opportunities for workers and businesses. But it faces a daunting challenge: a water crisis that could seriously constrain its economic growth and vitality. … Israel’s approach to desalination offers insights that Arizona would do well to consider.

Related article: 

  • Business Insider: US Southwest riddled with mile-long cracks due to pumping groundwater
  • Read more
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Aquafornia news September 12, 2023 KLAS - Las Vegas

Wildlife competing with people for priority in plans for Colorado River’s future

Setting the course for a Colorado River with less water is an enormous challenge that’s not likely to satisfy everyone. And climate change has created a collision course with wildlife. … The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is an important player in the battle that’s ahead. A letter submitted by USFWS to the Bureau of Reclamation has as many questions as answers. … As agencies weigh in on how to manage the river in the future, they are asking Reclamation to tell them precisely the water conditions they might have to deal with in protecting wildlife. It’s uncharted territory.

Related articles: 

  • Colorado Public Radio: Federal fish conservation programs have found success in Western Colorado, but they’re swimming upstream in Congress this year
  • Arizona Public Radio: Grand Canyon gets funds to protect native species
  • 8 News – Las Vegas: Colorado River problems: Glen Canyon Dam, desalination and a city that could run dry
  • Aspen Journalism: Data dashboard – Streamflows are down 
  • Colorado Sun: Buena Vista tries new approach to development in face of water limits
  • Read more
  • View Original Article
Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 Arizona Public Radio

Grand Canyon gets funds to protect native species

Grand Canyon National Park will get more than a quarter-million dollars to remove invasive species and protect native species of fish in the Colorado River. The funds come from the Inflation Reduction Act and are part of a nationwide effort to restore natural habitats and address climate change impacts.  Lake Powell, a key Colorado River reservoir, dropped to historically low levels last year due to climate change and drought. This created viable breeding conditions and easier passage through Glen Canyon Dam for high-risk invasive species like smallmouth bass and green sunfish.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 NPR

Mines for climate-friendly technologies face growing water scarcity in the West

Climate solutions like solar panels and electric cars require lots of minerals – copper, lithium, manganese. The U.S. plans new mines for these metals across the West. But as NPR’s Julia Simon reports, the country’s need for these metals can sometimes collide with the region’s lack of water. … You do have a miner in there. JULIA SIMON, BYLINE: On a 107-degree morning in the mountains east of Phoenix, a miner in a hard hat peeps out of the top of an 11-foot-tall bucket. Tyson Nansel, spokesperson for the Resolution Copper mine, says the miner’s about to plunge… SIMON: …Where the copper lies. To process it, the mine will use water – a lot, says geologist James Wells, much of it from an area east of Phoenix. JAMES WELLS: The equivalent of a brand-new city of something like 140,000 people – that’s how much water we’re talking about.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 E&E News

Can alfalfa survive a fight over Colorado River water?

Dirt roads neatly bisect acres and acres of vibrant green plants here: short, dense alfalfa plants fed by the waters of the Colorado River, flowing by as a light brown stream through miles of narrow concrete ditches. But on a nearby field, farmer Ronnie Leimgruber is abandoning those ditches, part of a system that has served farmers well for decades. Instead, he’s overseeing the installation of new irrigation technology, at a cost of more than $400,000, and with no guarantee it will be as dependable as the open concrete channels and gravity-fed systems that have long watered these lands. … What Leimgruber is pursuing on his acreage is part business savvy and part guarding against a drier future. Like many farmers in this region, he’s figuring out how to keep growing his crops with less water. Two decades of drought have shrunk the Colorado River, which feeds farms in the Imperial Valley, an agricultural oasis fed solely by the 82-mile All-American Canal, which delivers river water to this arid Southern California region.

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Aquafornia news September 11, 2023 Inside Climate News

As the Colorado River declines, some upstream look to use it before they lose it

With the nation beginning to transition from fossil fuels to clean energy like solar and wind power, oil and gas companies are beginning to plug their wells here. So local leaders are looking for the next economic development opportunity. And they may have found their solution—divert more Colorado River water with a new dam and reservoir that will generate more hydropower, irrigate more agriculture and store more water for emergencies. They’re not alone in that quest. Wyoming ranchers are pushing for a new dam to be used for irrigation. Colorado has some diversions already under construction, with more proposed across the state, to help fuel growth. Across the states of the Upper Basin of the Colorado River—Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico—new dams are rising and new reservoirs are filling …

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  • Greeley Tribune: Environmental groups renew legal challenge of massive Denver Water reservoir expansion
  • 8 News – Las Vegas: Colorado River problems - Glen Canyon Dam, desalination and a city that could run dry
  • Nevada Current: August rains clear drought in three-quarters of Nevada
  • 8 News – Las Vegas: Here’s what 7 states say about solving the West’s water crisis
  • Wyoming Public Radio: Wyoming’s new Colorado River advisory committee is looking for long term solutions
     
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Aquafornia news September 8, 2023 The Journal

Report examines impacts of climate change on drought, vegetation in Four Corners area

By changing the climate, humans have doubled the magnitude of drought’s impact on the availability of vegetation for herbivores, including livestock, to eat in the greater Four Corners region, according to a study published this summer in the journal Earth’s Future. This is because increasing air temperatures and increasing levels of evaporative demand – or more water being soaked up into the atmosphere – stresses the grasses and shrubs that livestock and many other herbivores rely upon. Emily Williams, who is now a postdoctoral scholar at the Sierra Nevada Research Institute at the University of California Merced, was the lead author of the study. At the time, she was a doctoral student at the University of California Santa Barbara.

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Aquafornia news September 8, 2023 Salt Lake Tribune

Opinion: Long-term commitments could save the Great Salt Lake

Returning home, I feel my roots, strengthened by five generations before me, dig deep into the land we have all called home. … Exiting Parley’s Canyon to be truly home for the first time in years, the valley is unfamiliarly rich and green with life. Water has returned. … This year, the runoff filled with a seldom seen sense of rage and power, fueled by unprecedented snowfall. It sought the freedom of countless streams meandering through meadows and tumbling violently down steep granite canyons. As always, much of this water comes together to form the Weber, Jordan and Bear River. But, unlike most of the waters west of the continental divide, it never reaches the Colorado River, let alone the Gulf of California.
-Written by John Dreyfous, a fifth-generation Utahn.​

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Aquafornia news September 7, 2023 Arizona Family

Colorado River water cutbacks looking more favorable for Yuma

Federal restrictions are being eased on the Colorado River starting next year, partly due to a snow-packed winter. Tom Davis with the Yuma County Water Users’ Associations said water levels have been looking great and are on the right path across the state, especially with the recent rainfall around Arizona.

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  • Las Vegas Review-Journal: Rainfall and Lake Mead water levels, explained 
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Aquafornia news September 6, 2023 Christian Science Monitor

Letter from Moab, Utah: Where Colorado River is musical muse

Concertgoers face a small stage at the bow of an open-air boat. Blue-bodied damselflies hover and land on their hats. As the sun begins to set and clarinet notes rise, the surrounding canyon turns from rust to pink to gold. … Campfire smoke reaches the boat from shrub-lined shores. The campers wave. The Colorado River is often portrayed as a site of crisis, where heat and humans throttle nature and demand outstrips supply. Yet the Moab Music Festival sees the river and its surrounding landscape as a source of creativity – collaborator and muse. The late-August “floating concert” is part of a summer series, the festival’s main annual event held in venues across town. The current water theme will continue and expand next year, organizers say. Commissions of works inspired by the Colorado River will honor and educate about its struggle.

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  • Arisona Republic: Rio Verde Foothills will see water by end of month, per new deal
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Aquafornia news September 5, 2023 Las Vegas Sun Newspaper

SNWA, partners develop tool to rank incoming businesses’ water consumption against benefits to the community

Cities and economic development organizations could start saying no to incoming businesses seeking tax abatements and grants if they consume too much water and won’t bring enough economic benefits to Southern Nevada. The Southern Nevada Water Authority is nearly finished developing its new “water investment tool,” which ranks businesses on a scale from one to five based on how much water they would annually consume. The Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development and the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance partnered with the water authority to develop the ranking system over the last year and a half.

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Aquafornia news September 5, 2023 AZ Animals

Blog: What’s in the Salton Sea and is it safe to swim?

The Salton Sea is a highly saline body of water in California. It was once part of the Gulf of California, but the region south of the Salton Sea dried up and now it is a large lake. It is the largest lake in California. The Salton Sea, the largest lake in the state, was once a thriving body of water, but it has gone through so much that it is now drying up. A combination of runoff from nearby farms and communities, as well as its location, are to blame. Because of this catastrophe happening to the Salton Sea, it has caught the eye of various government officials, from local electeds, state legislators, and federal politicians. But the question of the hour is, what is in the Salton Sea? And is it safe to swim? 

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Aquafornia news September 5, 2023 Los Angeles Times

Tuesday Top of the Scroll: As Colorado River shrinks, California farmers urge ‘one-dam solution’

For years, environmentalists have argued that the Colorado River should be allowed to flow freely across the Utah-Arizona border, saying that letting water pass around Glen Canyon Dam — and draining the giant Lake Powell reservoir — would improve the shrinking river’s health. Now, as climate change increases the strains on the river, this controversial proposal is receiving support from some surprising new allies: influential farmers in California’s Imperial Valley. In a letter to the federal Bureau of Reclamation, growers Mike and James Abatti, who run some of the biggest farming operations in the Imperial Valley, urged the government to consider sacrificing the Colorado’s second-largest reservoir and storing the water farther downstream in Lake Mead — the river’s largest reservoir.

Related articles: 

  • Colorado Sun: Here’s how Colorado uses its water amid climate change
  • Rolling Stone: The climate crisis could mean the twilight of the American West
  • Live Science: Will El Niño end the Southwest’s megadrought?
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Aquafornia news September 1, 2023 Las Vegas Review-Journal

To help endangered fish, Lake Mohave water levels to drop

Water levels at Lake Mohave are expected to drop about 10 feet in the coming weeks to improve habitat and spawning cycles for two endangered fish species native to the Colorado River system. The annual fall drawdown of the reservoir is part of an ongoing effort by the federal government to restore populations for the boneytail chub and razorback sucker, the National Park Service said in a news release. The surface of Lake Mohave will go from its current elevation of roughly 643 feet above sea level down to about 633 feet by mid-October. Water levels will start to tick back up starting in November and return to normal by mid-January.

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Aquafornia news September 1, 2023 KAKE - Wichita

Hualapai Tribe celebrates a billion gallons worth of water right

The Hualapai Tribe has secured thousands of acre-feet of water a year with an act signed by President Joe Biden in 2022. Hualapai tribe members celebrated Wednesday, at Grand Canyon West, decades’ worth of work to get federally protected water rights for their tribe. President Biden signed the Hualapai Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act last year, which was introduced by Arizona’s Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Sen. Mark Kelly. The settlement allocates a little over one billion gallons of water per year to the tribe. … They now need more money to help build a pipeline to get the water from their 108 acres of the Colorado River to where the tribe needs it. This will not only help families but also help the tribe grow economically.

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  • Arizona Public Radio: Hualapai Tribe celebrates solar array, water rights victory
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Aquafornia news September 1, 2023 Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada, other states lay out future goals for Colorado River

Nevada and the other Colorado River basin states are laying out their goals for the future of the river that supplies water to some 40 million Americans in the Southwest. States, cities, farmers, tribes, environmental groups and more submitted comments this month to the Bureau of Reclamation as part of the lengthy process for rewriting the rules that govern how the river and its major dams and reservoirs will be managed in the coming decades. The ideas run the gamut: from California farmers with the oldest and most senior rights calling for the new rules to follow the longstanding priority system, to calls for the federal government to evaluate retrofitting — or even decommissioning — Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell in order to protect water levels at Lake Mead.

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  • Arizona Family: New CAP manager weighs in on Colorado River water supply, current challenges
  • Food and Water Watch: Breaking down what we need to save the Colorado River
  • University of New Mexico: Blog: Report from Santa Fe talks water with UNM’s John Fleck
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Aquafornia news August 31, 2023 Aspen Journalism

Colorado River commission reviews lessons learned from water conservation program

Cassie Cerise lives on her family’s ranch on Missouri Heights, a mesa above Carbondale named for the home state of some of the area’s earliest settlers. Like her parents and grandparents, she runs cattle and irrigates hay and alfalfa fields — some by sprinklers, others by flood — with water from Cattle Creek. But this season, Cerise and her husband, Tim Fenton, decided to let about 73 acres go dry and get paid for the water they aren’t using as part of the federally funded System Conservation Program, which is aimed at addressing the crisis on the Colorado River. According to Cerise’s contract with the Upper Colorado River Commission, which oversees the program, not watering her fields this season will save about 83 acre-feet of water.

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Aquafornia news August 31, 2023 U.S. Geological Survey

News release: The USGS invests $1.5M in local partnerships to improve urban waterways

The U.S. Geological Survey today announced an investment of $1.5 million to improve urban waterways with science-based projects, which local partners will match with nearly $1.5 million in additional funds as part of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership. … The 11 new projects funded by the USGS and partners in fiscal year 2023 represent a total investment of nearly $3 million. As part of these projects, the USGS and partners will: … Monitor sediment transport in the Los Angeles River in Los Angeles, California. Study water quality to support the Rio Salado Project in Phoenix, Arizona. The project’s goal is to protect, restore and revitalize the Salt and Middle Gila River watersheds. Study groundwater and characterize surface waters to support restoration of native vegetation on the Lower Gila River in Phoenix, Arizona.

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Aquafornia news August 30, 2023 Santa Fe Reporter

Replenishing the San Juan River

On an unseasonably hot July day, Jerrod Bowman peers into the water flowing through a box-like passage for endangered fishes, checking their route is clear. Bowman works as a fish biologist for the Navajo Nation, based west of Farmington, where the San Juan River borders the reservation. A small dam here forms a barrier to the seasonal migration of two rare fish species, the razorback sucker and the Colorado pikeminnow. On the south side of the river a narrow, rocky channel leading to a concrete bypass serves as a passage around the dam. “I’m just trying to give them the chance to move upstream,” Bowman says. Historically, Colorado pikeminnows traveled hundreds of miles through the free-flowing rivers of the Colorado River Basin, from Wyoming to northern Mexico. Razorback suckers also migrated seasonally to spawn through a similar range.

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Aquafornia news August 30, 2023 Las Vegas Sun

Interior Department official, at water summit, lauds Nevada as a leader in conservation

There’s a saying used in Washington to describe the woes of conserving large sums of Colorado River water amid one of the worst droughts in the history of the Western United States. It was supposedly coined by the man who oversees Nevada’s largest water agency. “Here’s the fundamental problem: We have a 19th-century law and 20th-century infrastructure in a 21st-century climate,” says John Entsminger, the general manager at the Southern Nevada Water Authority. It’s a phrase he and others began to use throughout negotiations between the seven states dependent on the Colorado River for its water before they reached a tentative deal in May to conserve roughly 3 million acre-feet of water through 2026.

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  • KTNV – Las Vegas: State, local leaders looking on how to better manage resources from Colorado River in 2027 plan
  • Colorado Sun: Was the leading Colorado River conservation program a flop? Officials say no, but it wasn’t perfect either
  • Investors’ Observer: Press release - Limoneira capitalizes on water fallowing conservation program with Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Drainage District and the United States Bureau of Reclamation
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Aquafornia news August 29, 2023 Arizona Republic

National Park Service plans predator kill to aid Colorado River fish

National Park Service biologists planned to close off and poison a slough connected to the Colorado River upstream of the Grand Canyon to kill young, non-native bass this weekend, the agency said. It’s the second time that officials have used rotenone, a fish-killing agent, as an emergency measure to slow a mushrooming smallmouth bass invasion from Lake Powell that threatens native humpback chubs that swim the Colorado farther downstream. This time they’re seeking hundreds of young bass, instead of the handful first detected in the slough between Glen Canyon Dam and Lees Ferry last year.

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Aquafornia news August 29, 2023 KJZZ - Tempe

Facing Colorado River cutbacks, extreme heat and prolonged drought, Arizona farmers are getting help from University of Arizona’s Agricultural Cooperative Extension

With three-quarters of Arizona’s fresh water supply going to farmlands, the recent reductions imposed on Colorado River supply are having a huge impact on agriculture in the state. “It’s all about stretching that water dollar or that gallon of water a little bit further.” Paul “Paco” Ollerton is a third-generation farmer in Casa Grande, who says he’d already been squeezing every last drop for his fields. “Our yields have improved dramatically. Irrigation efficiencies have helped quite a bit.” But it’s still not enough to keep his family business afloat. The longtime cotton farmer has had to make adjustments as well, turning to more drought-resistant crops used for animal feed.

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Aquafornia news August 29, 2023 Counter Punch

Is wastewater an answer for adapting to climate change?

Population growth and climate change are stretching America’s water supplies to the limit, and tapping new sources is becoming more difficult each year—in some cases, even impossible. New Mexico, California, Arizona, and Colorado are facing the nation’s most significant strains on water supplies. But across the entire American Southwest, water stress has become the norm. … Farmers use the vast majority of water withdrawn from the Colorado River to irrigate crops—and 70 percent of that is for crops like alfalfa and hay used to feed cattle. The river also supplies drinking water to 40 million people in the Southwest, and in 2022, Lake Mead—which the Colorado feeds—shrank to its lowest levels since it was filled in the 1930s.

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Aquafornia news August 29, 2023 Arizona Republic

As coal mines depleted a Navajo Nation aquifer, feds failed to flag losses, report says

Coal mining depleted areas of a critical aquifer in the Black Mesa region of the Navajo Nation, but a federal agency didn’t consider the losses environmentally damaging, researchers concluded in a new study of the aquifer in northern Arizona. The researchers detailed what they said were failures by the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement to hold the Peabody mining company responsible for the environmental effects of coal mining in the Black Mesa area. The findings of the study, conducted by the Institutes for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, didn’t surprise Nicole Horseherder, executive director of Tó Nizhóní Ání, a group working to protect Black Mesa water, among other things.

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  • Tucson Sentinel: Earthjustice asks federal judge to order Forest Service, mining companies to halt Southern Az drilling
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Aquafornia news August 28, 2023 ABC 15 - Arizona

Navajo Nation continues fight for water rights

JoAnne Yazzie-Pioche calls the LeChee Chapter of the Navajo Nation near Page home. She’s also the president of the chapter. Throughout the years, she’s seen many changes. “I remember when there was hardly anything here in Page,” she says. “There was no Highway 98. It was all dirt roads.” There’s even running water in some parts of LeChee that they get from Page and the Colorado River. Throughout much of the Navajo Nation, however, hauling water is still a way of life.

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Aquafornia news August 28, 2023 Water News Network

News release: Dan Denham appointed San Diego County Water Authority general manager

The San Diego County Water Authority Board of Directors August 24 voted unanimously to appoint Dan Denham as general manager. The appointment follows the June retirement of former General Manager Sandra L. Kerl. Denham has served in several leadership capacities with the Water Authority for the past 17 years, including his most recent post as deputy general manager. In that role, he oversaw the MWD and Colorado River programs, along with the Engineering, Water Resources, and Operations & Maintenance departments. Denham also continues to oversee the implementation of long-term agricultural-to-urban conserved water transfers that are among the largest in the United States. As a commissioner on the Quantification Settlement Agreement Joint Powers Authority, he leads the Water Authority’s fulfillment of environmental mitigation obligations and legislative advocacy efforts at the Salton Sea.

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Aquafornia news August 25, 2023 KLAS - Las Vegas

California farmers: Glen Canyon Dam a major problem in West’s water supply

California farmers are putting a big target on Glen Canyon Dam, telling the federal government it’s time to take a serious look at suggestions to stop using the dam to produce electricity. Talk of decommissioning the dam has been on the fringe of criticism of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation management of the Colorado River, but it could gain momentum as public comment is released in the coming days. Reclamation asked for input as it works on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for managing the river as the Colorado River Compact — the “Law of the River” — nears expiration in 2026. More than 21,000 comments were submitted, and they are expected to be publicly available in the coming days. Conservation groups, government agencies, businesses and private citizens all weighed in. Public comment ended on Aug. 15.

Related article: 

  • Colorado Politics: Colorado’s river commissioner calls for ‘clear’ boundaries and expectations on water guidelines
  • Arizona Republic: Tucson enters water-sharing agreements with some Phoenix metro cities
  • U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett: Bennet Commits to Protecting Water Conservation Funds at Annual Water Congress Summer Conference
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Aquafornia news August 24, 2023 Grand Junction Sentinel

Planning commission approves gravel pit near Colorado River

The Grand Junction Planning Commission voted 7-0 on Tuesday to approve a conditional use permit for a sand and gravel pit located near the Colorado River. The proposed gravel pit would sit on about 28 acres on C 1/2 Road, in an area zoned for community services and recreation. The area that is within 100 feet of the river will not be mined, according to a city staff report. Some of the vegetation on the site has already been cleared in anticipation of construction, Grand Junction Principal Planner Kristen Ashbeck said. The site will be mined over 10 years, Ashbeck said, with operations focusing on a small area at a time.

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Aquafornia news August 24, 2023 Colorado Politics

Colorado lawmakers: AZ, CA must do their part before state agrees to water cuts

A panel of state lawmakers who lead in the water and agriculture space said any water conservation program Colorado conceives of shouldn’t go into place until after California and Arizona first take action. The bipartisan panel spoke Wednesday at Colorado Water Congress about the water policies passed in the last legislative session, and where they see Colorado water policy headed in the next year.

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  • KUNM: Water conservation model built on the Rio Grande may be a template for rest of US
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  • Center for Biological Diversity: Court petition seeks reversal of water diversion threatening Utah’s Green River
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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 Colorado Sun

Colorado researchers see big potential for AI in agriculture

When Perry Cabot looks at his 12-acre cornfield northeast of Fruita, he sees much more than a flat field among many other flat fields baking under a cloudless sky.  He sees a bountiful reserve of data and a way to fine-tune crop production in the drought-challenged Colorado River Basin using a new tool: artificial intelligence. … Cabot and his research partners think AI has a place in agriculture, where the field of precision agriculture is already harnessing new technologies to boost ag practices. … The basin provides water to millions of people. But its supply is dwindling, and water users are struggling to curb overuse in face of prolonged drought and climate change. More efficient water technology would change how farmers operate their businesses…  

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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 High Country News

Federal court derails proposed Utah oil railroad

Fears, concerns and legal challenges over a proposed oil train route along the Colorado River were finally addressed in federal court last week. Until then, plans for the Uinta Basin Railway project, which would ferry vast amounts of crude oil from northeast Utah eastward alongside the Colorado River, sailed through federal agencies tasked with approving large transportation projects. But then the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., successfully challenged the project’s environmental impact assessments, siding with the railway’s opponents and striking a blow against what would have been the largest petroleum corridor in the United States. 

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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 Colorado Sun

Western states stake out positions on future of lakes Mead, Powell

Colorado River Basin states don’t agree on very much when it comes to the future operations of the basin’s largest water savings banks. One thing they do agree on: The current rules aren’t working. The seven states with land in the Colorado River Basin and other stakeholders submitted comment letters Aug. 15 to the federal government for consideration as part of ongoing discussions over future operations at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, which together comprise 92% of the basin’s entire storage capacity. The federal long-term planning process launched in June, a year after a storage crisis left water users reeling. From 2000 to 2022, Mead and Powell dropped from nearly full to less than 32% capacity, as of March 20. Water experts attribute the crisis to prolonged drought, an increasingly warm climate and overuse.

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Aquafornia news August 23, 2023 The New York Times

Extreme weather hits around the world as global temperatures rise

July was the hottest month in modern times. Now, August is shaping up to be a month of extremes. In the United States alone, a tropical storm swept across the Southwest, another struck Texas, Maui burned, and a blistering heat dome sat atop the middle of the country. In India, torrential rains triggered deadly landslides, Morocco and Japan hit new heat records, and southern Europe braced for another scorching heat wave. Those extremes have also brought high-stakes tests for public officials: Where public alerts and education worked, death and destruction were minimized. Where they didn’t, the results were catastrophic. Maui has so far recorded more than 100 deaths from the blaze that started Aug. 8, and that number is projected to rise.

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  • The White House: Statement from President Joe Biden on Extreme Weather
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  • KTVU – Los Angeles: Worried by summer’s disasters and extreme weather? Climate scientists have advice 
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Aquafornia news August 22, 2023 Pagosa Daily Posy

Opinion: Governors, farmers, cities put Glen Canyon Dam in crosshairs of Colorado River EIS

Strange times create strange bedfellows, as long-term water supply for farms and cities in the Lower Basin aligns with the best environmental alternative. The best solution for California, Arizona, and Nevada to achieve water supply security is to have the Colorado River bypass Glen Canyon Dam, drain Lake Powell’s water into Lake Mead, and let the Colorado River flow freely through Grand Canyon. As the comments are made public in the Post-2026 Colorado River Scoping EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) process, one thing is for certain: an alternative examining bypassing water around or through Glen Canyon Dam must be developed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The usual suspects — mostly environmental groups — are calling for either completely decommissioning Glen Canyon Dam or bypassing the Dam to support the “Fill Mead First” alternative.
-Written by Gary Wockner, a scientist and conservationist based in Colorado. 

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Aquafornia news August 21, 2023 The Associated Press

Chemical treatment to be deployed against invasive fish in Colorado River

The National Park Service will renew efforts to rid an area of the Colorado River in northern Arizona of invasive fish by killing them with a chemical treatment, the agency said Friday. A substance lethal to fish but approved by federal environmental regulators called rotenone will be disseminated starting Aug. 26. It’s the latest tactic in an ongoing struggle to keep non-native smallmouth bass and green sunfish at bay below the Glen Canyon Dam and to protect a threatened native fish, the humpback chub. The treatment will require a weekend closure of the Colorado River slough, a cobble bar area surrounding the backwater where the smallmouth bass were found and a short stretch up and downstream. Chemical substances were also utilized last year.

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Aquafornia news August 21, 2023 The Daily Independent

Phoenix maintains drought status despite federal change

Phoenix officials said this week the city will remain in a stage 1 water alert even though the United States Bureau of Reclamation announced a return to a tier 1 shortage on the Colorado River in 2024 as a result of a wet winter that elevated levels at lakes Powell and Mead. “While this favorable winter provides temporary relief to the Colorado River system, Phoenix, which receives 40% of its water from the river, is asking residents to continue conserving water due to the unpredictability of the river, prolonged drought and climate change,” city officials said in a release. Under the city’s drought management plan, a stage 1 water alert is declared when an insufficient supply of water appears likely due to water system or supply limitations, triggering an intensive public education and information program.

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Aquafornia news August 21, 2023 San Diego Union-Tribune

Commentary: Lawyers, votes and money – San Diego’s water wars

The Colorado River is healthier and Lake Mead is rising. That news is welcome but brings little joy in San Diego’s water world at the moment. A lawsuit between agencies has been authorized. Legislation that could block two small districts from getting cheaper water elsewhere hit a bump in the road in Sacramento. And a controversial hire by a water district that supplies San Diego County with water is being eyed warily by some officials. First, the good news. The massive snowpack from the winter storms has nourished the ailing Colorado River, a major source of water for San Diego and much of the Southwest.
-Written by columnist Michael Smolens. 

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Announcement July 19, 2023

Applications for 2024 Water Leader Programs Just Around the Corner
Apps available in fall for our California and Colorado River Basin water leader cohorts

It’s never too early to start thinking about applying for our preeminent water leadership programs.

The Water Education Foundation has run the William R. Gianelli Water Leaders class since 1997, and launched a similar biennial program for the Colorado River Basin in 2022.

Both programs will be accepting applications for the 2024 cohorts starting in the fall. 

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Western Water April 21, 2023 Nick Cahill Colorado River Bundle WESTERN WATER-Upper Colorado River States Add Muscle as Decisions Loom on the Shrinking River’s Future By Nick Cahill

Upper Colorado River States Add Muscle as Decisions Loom on the Shrinking River’s Future
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Upper Basin States Seek Added Leverage to Protect Their River Shares Amid Difficult Talks with California and the Lower Basin

The White River winds and meanders through a valley.The states of the Lower Colorado River Basin have traditionally played an oversized role in tapping the lifeline that supplies 40 million people in the West. California, Nevada and Arizona were quicker to build major canals and dams and negotiated a landmark deal that requires the Upper Basin to send predictable flows through the Grand Canyon, even during dry years.

But with the federal government threatening unprecedented water cuts amid decades of drought and declining reservoirs, the Upper Basin states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are muscling up to protect their shares of an overallocated river whose average flows in the Upper Basin have already dropped 20 percent over the last century.

They have formed new agencies to better monitor their interests, moved influential Colorado River veterans into top negotiating posts and improved their relationships with Native American tribes that also hold substantial claims to the river.

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Tour September 12, 2023 - 7:00pm - September 15, 2023 - 5:30pm Nick Gray

Eastern Sierra Tour 2023
Field Trip - September 12-15

This special Foundation water tour journeyed along the Eastern Sierra from the Truckee River to Mono Lake, through the Owens Valley and into the Mojave Desert to explore a major source of water for Southern California, this year’s snowpack and challenges for towns, farms and the environment.

Grand Sierra Resort
2500 E 2nd St
Reno, NV 89595
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Western Water December 9, 2022 Nick Cahill Colorado River Basin Map WESTERN WATER-As Colorado River Flows Drop and Tensions Rise, Water Interests Struggle to Find Solutions That All Can Accept By Nick Cahill

As Colorado River Flows Drop and Tensions Rise, Water Interests Struggle to Find Solutions That All Can Accept
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Chorus of experts warn climate change has rendered old assumptions outdated about what the Colorado River can provide, leaving painful water cuts as the only way forward

Photo shows Hoover Dam’s intake towers protruding from the surface of Lake Mead near Las Vegas, where water levels have dropped to record lows amid a 22-year drought. When the Colorado River Compact was signed 100 years ago, the negotiators for seven Western states bet that the river they were dividing would have ample water to meet everyone’s needs – even those not seated around the table.

A century later, it’s clear the water they bet on is not there. More than two decades of drought, lake evaporation and overuse of water have nearly drained the river’s two anchor reservoirs, Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border and Lake Mead near Las Vegas. Climate change is rendering the basin drier, shrinking spring runoff that’s vital for river flows, farms, tribes and cities across the basin – and essential for refilling reservoirs.

The states that endorsed the Colorado River Compact in 1922 – and the tribes and nation of Mexico that were excluded from the table – are now straining to find, and perhaps more importantly accept, solutions on a river that may offer just half of the water that the Compact assumed would be available. And not only are solutions not coming easily, the relationships essential for compromise are getting more frayed.

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Western Water September 16, 2022 Nick Cahill Colorado River Bundle WESTERN WATER-A Colorado River Veteran Moves Upstream and Plunges into the Drought-Stressed River's Mounting Woes By Nick Cahill

A Colorado River Veteran Moves Upstream and Plunges into The Drought-Stressed River’s Mounting Woes
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Chuck Cullom, a longtime Arizona water manager, brings a dual-basin perspective as top staffer at the Upper Colorado River Commission

Chuck Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission. With 25 years of experience working on the Colorado River, Chuck Cullom is used to responding to myriad challenges that arise on the vital lifeline that seven states, more than two dozen tribes and the country of Mexico depend on for water. But this summer problems on the drought-stressed river are piling up at a dizzying pace: Reservoirs plummeting to record low levels, whether Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam can continue to release water and produce hydropower, unprecedented water cuts and predatory smallmouth bass threatening native fish species in the Grand Canyon. 

“Holy buckets, Batman!,” said Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission. “I mean, it’s just on and on and on.”

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Western Water July 7, 2022 Nick Cahill Colorado River Basin Map WESTERN WATER-A Colorado River Tribal Leader Seeks A Voice In the River's Future--And Freedom to Profit From Its Surplus Water By Nick Cahill

A Colorado River Tribal Leader Seeks A Voice In the River’s Future–And Freedom to Profit From Its Water
WESTERN WATER Q&A: CRIT Chair Amelia Flores Says Allowing Tribe to Lease Or Store Water Off Reservation Could Aid Broader Colorado River Drought Response and Fund Irrigation Repairs

Amelia Flores, chairwoman of the Colorado River Indian Tribes.As water interests in the Colorado River Basin prepare to negotiate a new set of operating guidelines for the drought-stressed river, Amelia Flores wants her Colorado River Indian Tribes (CRIT) to be involved in the discussion. And she wants CRIT seated at the negotiating table with something invaluable to offer on a river facing steep cuts in use: its surplus water.

CRIT, whose reservation lands in California and Arizona are bisected by the Colorado River, has some of the most senior water rights on the river. But a federal law enacted in the late 1700s, decades before any southwestern state was established, prevents most tribes from sending any of its water off its reservation. The restrictions mean CRIT, which holds the rights to nearly a quarter of the entire state of Arizona’s yearly allotment of river water, is missing out on financial gain and the chance to help its river partners.

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Western Water April 29, 2022 Nick Cahill Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to Water Recycling WESTERN WATER-As Drought Shrinks the Colorado River, A SoCal Giant Seeks Help from River Partners to Fortify its Local Supply By Nick Cahill

As Drought Shrinks the Colorado River, A SoCal Giant Seeks Help from River Partners to Fortify its Local Supply
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Metropolitan Water District's wastewater recycling project draws support from Arizona and Nevada, which hope to gain a share of Metropolitan's river supply

Metropolitan Water District's advanced water treatment demonstration plant in Carson. Momentum is building for a unique interstate deal that aims to transform wastewater from Southern California homes and business into relief for the stressed Colorado River. The collaborative effort to add resiliency to a river suffering from overuse, drought and climate change is being shaped across state lines by some of the West’s largest water agencies.  

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Tour March 8, 2023 - 7:30am - March 10, 2023 - 6:30pm Nick Gray

Lower Colorado River Tour 2023
Field Trip - March 8-10

This tour explored the lower Colorado River firsthand where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.

The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to some 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.

Hyatt Place Las Vegas At Silverton Village
8380 Dean Martin Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89139
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Announcement January 20, 2022

A Week Left to Apply for Our Inaugural Colorado River Water Leaders Class
Foundation launching new program modeled after successful California program

California Water Leaders at Palo Verde DamThere is just about a week left to apply for our inaugural Colorado River Water Leaders program in 2022, which marks the 100th anniversary of the Colorado River Compact.

The biennial program is modeled after our highly successful Water Leaders program in California, now 25 years strong.

Our Colorado River program will select rising stars from the seven U.S. states and tribal nations that rely on the river - California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico – to participate in the seven-month class designed for working professionals. Class members will explore issues surrounding the iconic Southwest river, deepen their water knowledge and build leadership skills. 

Get more information, tuition costs and application materials here to apply by the Jan. 28 deadline.

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Western Water January 14, 2022 Colorado River Basin Map By Douglas E. Beeman

As the Colorado River Shrinks, Can the Basin Find an Equitable Solution in Sharing the River’s Waters?
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Drought and climate change are raising concerns that a century-old Compact that divided the river’s waters could force unwelcome cuts in use for the upper watershed

Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell, a key Colorado River reservoir that has seen its water level plummet after two decades of drought. Climate scientist Brad Udall calls himself the skunk in the room when it comes to the Colorado River. Armed with a deck of PowerPoint slides and charts that highlight the Colorado River’s worsening math, the Colorado State University scientist offers a grim assessment of the river’s future: Runoff from the river’s headwaters is declining, less water is flowing into Lake Powell – the key reservoir near the Arizona-Utah border – and at the same time, more water is being released from the reservoir than it can sustainably provide.

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Tour March 16, 2022 - 7:30am - March 18, 2022 - 6:30pm Nick Gray

Lower Colorado River Tour 2022
Field Trip - March 16-18

The lower Colorado River has virtually every drop allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.

The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.

Hyatt Place Las Vegas At Silverton Village
8380 Dean Martin Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89139
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Western Water December 10, 2021 Colorado River Basin Map WESTERN WATER-A Colorado River Veteran Takes on Top Water & Science Post at Interior Department By Douglas E. Beeman

A Colorado River Veteran Takes on the Top Water & Science Post at Interior Department
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Tanya Trujillo brings two decades of experience on Colorado River issues as she takes on the challenges of a river basin stressed by climate change

Tanya Trujillo, Assistant Interior Secretary for Water and Science For more than 20 years, Tanya Trujillo has been immersed in the many challenges of the Colorado River, the drought-stressed lifeline for 40 million people from Denver to Los Angeles and the source of irrigation water for more than 5 million acres of winter lettuce, supermarket melons and other crops.

Trujillo has experience working in both the Upper and Lower Basins of the Colorado River, basins that split the river’s water evenly but are sometimes at odds with each other. She was a lawyer for the state of New Mexico, one of four states in the Upper Colorado River Basin, when key operating guidelines for sharing shortages on the river were negotiated in 2007. She later worked as executive director for the Colorado River Board of California, exposing her to the different perspectives and challenges facing California and the other states in the river’s Lower Basin.

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Announcement December 9, 2021

Apply for Our Inaugural Colorado River Water Leaders Class
Foundation to launch new program during the 100th anniversary of the Colorado River Compact; join Dec. 21 virtual Q&A session

California Water Leaders at Palo Verde DamKnown for our popular Water Leaders program in California – about to mark its 25th anniversary – we are now launching a Colorado River Water Leaders program in 2022, the 100th anniversary of the Colorado River Compact.

The biennial program will select rising stars from the seven U.S. states that rely on the river – California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico – to participate in the seven-month class designed for working professionals. Class members will explore issues surrounding the iconic Southwest river, deepen their water knowledge and build leadership skills. 

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Western Water August 27, 2021 Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Delta Water-Starved Colorado River Delta Gets Another Shot of Life from the River’s Flows By Gary Pitzer

Water-Starved Colorado River Delta Gets Another Shot of Life from the River’s Flows
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Despite water shortages along the drought-stressed river, experimental flows resume in Mexico to revive trees and provide habitat for birds and wildlife

Water flowing into a Colorado River Delta restoration site in Mexico.Water is flowing once again to the Colorado River’s delta in Mexico, a vast region that was once a natural splendor before the iconic Western river was dammed and diverted at the turn of the last century, essentially turning the delta into a desert.

In 2012, the idea emerged that water could be intentionally sent down the river to inundate the delta floodplain and regenerate native cottonwood and willow trees, even in an overallocated river system. Ultimately, dedicated flows of river water were brokered under cooperative efforts by the U.S. and Mexican governments.

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Western Water June 25, 2021 Colorado River Basin Map As Climate Change Turns Up The Heat in Las Vegas, Water Managers Try to Wring New Savings to Stretch Supply By Gary Pitzer

As Climate Change Turns Up The Heat in Las Vegas, Water Managers Try to Wring New Savings to Stretch Supply
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Rising temperatures are expected to drive up water demand as historic drought in the Colorado River Basin imperils Southern Nevada’s key water source

Las Vegas has reduced its water consumption even as its population has increased. Las Vegas, known for its searing summertime heat and glitzy casino fountains, is projected to get even hotter in the coming years as climate change intensifies. As temperatures rise, possibly as much as 10 degrees by end of the century, according to some models, water demand for the desert community is expected to spike. That is not good news in a fast-growing region that depends largely on a limited supply of water from an already drought-stressed Colorado River.

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Western Water May 21, 2021 Colorado River Bundle Layperson's Guide to the State Water Project MWD's Jeff Kightlinger Reflects On Building Big Things, Essential Partnerships and His Hopes For the Delta By Gary Pitzer

MWD’s Jeff Kightlinger Reflects On Building Big Things, Essential Partnerships and His Hopes For the Delta
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Veteran Water Boss, Retiring After 25 Years With SoCal Water Giant, Discusses ‘Permanent’ Drought, Conservation Gains & the Struggling Colorado River

Jeff Kightlinger, longtime general manager of Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.When you oversee the largest supplier of treated water in the United States, you tend to think big.

Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California for the last 15 years, has focused on diversifying his agency’s water supply and building security through investment. That means looking beyond MWD’s borders to ensure the reliable delivery of water to two-thirds of California’s population.

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Western Water November 20, 2020 Colorado River Bundle By Gary Pitzer

Milestone Colorado River Management Plan Mostly Worked Amid Epic Drought, Review Finds
WESTERN WATER SPOTLIGHT: Draft assessment of 2007 Interim Guidelines expected to provide a guide as talks begin on new river operating rules for the iconic Southwestern river

At full pool, Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States by volume. but two decades of drought have dramatically dropped the water level behind Hoover Dam.Twenty years ago, the Colorado River Basin’s hydrology began tumbling into a historically bad stretch. The weather turned persistently dry. Water levels in the system’s anchor reservoirs of Lake Powell and Lake Mead plummeted. A river system relied upon by nearly 40 million people, farms and ecosystems across the West was in trouble. And there was no guide on how to respond.

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Western Water November 6, 2020 Colorado River Basin Map By Gary Pitzer

A Colorado River Leader Who Brokered Key Pacts to Aid West’s Vital Water Artery Assesses His Legacy and the River’s Future
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Terry Fulp, regional Reclamation director, urges continued collaboration and cooperation to meet the river's tough water management challenges ahead

Terry FulpManaging water resources in the Colorado River Basin is not for the timid or those unaccustomed to big challenges. Careers are devoted to responding to all the demands put upon the river: water supply, hydropower, recreation and environmental protection.

All of this while the Basin endures a seemingly endless drought and forecasts of increasing dryness in the future.

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Western Water September 11, 2020 Colorado River Bundle By Gary Pitzer

The Colorado River is awash in data vital to its management, but making sense of it all is a challenge
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Major science report that highlights scientific shortcomings and opportunities in the Basin could aid water managers as they rewrite river's operating rules

The Colorado River threading its way through a desert canyon near Lee Ferry, Arizona. Practically every drop of water that flows through the meadows, canyons and plains of the Colorado River Basin has reams of science attached to it. Snowpack, streamflow and tree ring data all influence the crucial decisions that guide water management of the iconic Western river every day.

Dizzying in its scope, detail and complexity, the scientific information on the Basin’s climate and hydrology has been largely scattered in hundreds of studies and reports. Some studies may conflict with others, or at least appear to. That’s problematic for a river that’s a lifeline for 40 million people and more than 4 million acres of irrigated farmland.

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Aquapedia background September 4, 2020 Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Delta

Colorado River Compact

Signing of the Colorado River Compact in 1922.The Colorado River Compact of 1922 divided the river into two basins: The Upper Basin (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) and the Lower Basin (Arizona, California and Nevada), established the allotment for each basin and provided a framework for management of the river for years to come.

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Western Water July 17, 2020 Colorado River Bundle Long Criticized For Inaction At Salton Sea, California Says It’s All-in On Effort To Preserve State’s Largest Lake Gary Pitzer

Long Criticized For Inaction At Salton Sea, California Says It’s All-In On Effort To Preserve State’s Largest Lake
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Dust suppression, habitat are key elements in long-term plan to aid sea, whose ills have been a sore point in Colorado River management

The Salton Sea is a major nesting, wintering and stopover site for about 400 bird species. Out of sight and out of mind to most people, the Salton Sea in California’s far southeast corner has challenged policymakers and local agencies alike to save the desert lake from becoming a fetid, hyper-saline water body inhospitable to wildlife and surrounded by clouds of choking dust.

The sea’s problems stretch beyond its boundaries in Imperial and Riverside counties and threaten to undermine multistate management of the Colorado River. A 2019 Drought Contingency Plan for the Lower Colorado River Basin was briefly stalled when the Imperial Irrigation District, holding the river’s largest water allocation, balked at participating in the plan because, the district said, it ignored the problems of the Salton Sea.  

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Western Water June 12, 2020 Colorado River Basin Map A Key Player On Colorado River Issues Seeks To Balance Competing Water Demands In The River's Upper Basin Gary Pitzer

A Key Player On Colorado River Issues Seeks To Balance Competing Water Demands In The River’s Upper Basin
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Colorado’s water chief Becky Mitchell, now the state’s point person on the Upper Colorado River Commission, brings decades of water know-how to state, interstate assignments

Becky Mitchell, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board since 2017 and the state’s representative to the Upper Colorado River Commission.Colorado is home to the headwaters of the Colorado River and the water policy decisions made in the Centennial State reverberate throughout the river’s sprawling basin that stretches south to Mexico. The stakes are huge in a basin that serves 40 million people, and responding to the water needs of the economy, productive agriculture, a robust recreational industry and environmental protection takes expertise, leadership and a steady hand.

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Western Water May 15, 2020 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

Questions Simmer About Lake Powell’s Future As Drought, Climate Change Point To A Drier Colorado River Basin
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: A key reservoir for Colorado River storage program, Powell faces demands from stakeholders in Upper and Lower Basins with different water needs as runoff is forecast to decline

Persistent drought in the Colorado River Basin combined with the coordinated operations with Lake Mead has left Lake Powell consistently about half-full. Sprawled across a desert expanse along the Utah-Arizona border, Lake Powell’s nearly 100-foot high bathtub ring etched on its sandstone walls belie the challenges of a major Colorado River reservoir at less than half-full. How those challenges play out as demand grows for the river’s water amid a changing climate is fueling simmering questions about Powell’s future.

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Tour May 20, 2021 - 2:30pm - 5:30pm Nick Gray Learn About Infrastructure and Environmental Restoration During Lower Colorado River Tour

Lower Colorado River Tour 2021
A Virtual Journey - May 20

This event explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.

The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour. 

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Western Water January 16, 2020 Layperson's Guide to Groundwater Douglas E. Beeman

Water Resource Innovation, Hard-Earned Lessons and Colorado River Challenges — Western Water Year in Review
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK-Our 2019 articles spanned the gamut from groundwater sustainability and drought resiliency to collaboration and innovation

Smoke from the 2018 Camp Fire as viewed from Lake Oroville in Northern California. Innovative efforts to accelerate restoration of headwater forests and to improve a river for the benefit of both farmers and fish. Hard-earned lessons for water agencies from a string of devastating California wildfires. Efforts to drought-proof a chronically water-short region of California. And a broad debate surrounding how best to address persistent challenges facing the Colorado River. 

These were among the issues Western Water explored in 2019, and are still worth taking a look at in case you missed them.

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Western Water December 13, 2019 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

Can a Grand Vision Solve the Colorado River’s Challenges? Or Will Incremental Change Offer Best Hope for Success?
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: With talks looming on a new operating agreement for the river, a debate has emerged over the best approach to address its challenges

Photo of Lake Mead and Hoover DamThe Colorado River is arguably one of the hardest working rivers on the planet, supplying water to 40 million people and a large agricultural economy in the West. But it’s under duress from two decades of drought and decisions made about its management will have exceptional ramifications for the future, especially as impacts from climate change are felt.

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Western Water December 13, 2019 Jenn Bowles Jennifer Bowles

Exploring Different Approaches for Solving the Colorado River’s Myriad Challenges
EDITOR’S NOTE: We examine a debate that emerged from our Colorado River Symposium over whether incrementalism or grand vision is the best path forward

Jenn Bowles, Water Education Foundation Executive DirectorEvery other year we hold an invitation-only Colorado River Symposium attended by various stakeholders from across the seven Western states and Mexico that rely on the iconic river. We host this three-day event in Santa Fe, N.M., where the 1922 Colorado River Compact was signed, as part of our mission to catalyze critical conversations to build bridges and inform collaborative decision-making.

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Western Water September 12, 2019 Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

Could “Black Swan” Events Spawned by Climate Change Wreak Havoc in the Colorado River Basin?
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Scientists say a warming planet increases odds of extreme drought and flood; officials say they’re trying to include those possibilities in their plans

Runoff from what some describe as an "epic flood" in 1983 strained the capacity of Glen Canyon Dam to convey water fast enough.  The Colorado River Basin’s 20 years of drought and the dramatic decline in water levels at the river’s key reservoirs have pressed water managers to adapt to challenging conditions. But even more extreme — albeit rare — droughts or floods that could overwhelm water managers may lie ahead in the Basin as the effects of climate change take hold, say a group of scientists. They argue that stakeholders who are preparing to rewrite the operating rules of the river should plan now for how to handle these so-called “black swan” events so they’re not blindsided.

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Announcement September 11, 2019

Save The Dates For Next Year’s Water 101 Workshop and Lower Colorado River Tour
Applications for 2020 Water Leaders class will be available by the first week of October

Dates are now set for two key Foundation events to kick off 2020 — our popular Water 101 Workshop, scheduled for Feb. 20 at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, and our Lower Colorado River Tour, which will run from March 11-13.

In addition, applications will be available by the first week of October for our 2020 class of Water Leaders, our competitive yearlong program for early to mid-career up-and-coming water professionals. To learn more about the program, check out our Water Leaders program page.

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Western Water August 8, 2019 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

A Rancher-Led Group Is Boosting the Health of the Colorado River Near Its Headwaters
WESTERN WATER SPOTLIGHT: A Colorado partnership is engaged in a river restoration effort to aid farms and fish habitat that could serve as a model across the West

Strategic placement of rocks promotes a more natural streamflow that benefits ranchers and fish. High in the headwaters of the Colorado River, around the hamlet of Kremmling, Colorado, generations of families have made ranching and farming a way of life, their hay fields and cattle sustained by the river’s flow. But as more water was pulled from the river and sent over the Continental Divide to meet the needs of Denver and other cities on the Front Range, less was left behind to meet the needs of ranchers and fish.

“What used to be a very large river that inundated the land has really become a trickle,” said Mely Whiting, Colorado counsel for Trout Unlimited. “We estimate that 70 percent of the flow on an annual average goes across the Continental Divide and never comes back.”

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Western Water July 11, 2019 California Water Map

Your Don’t-Miss Roundup of Summer Reading From Western Water

Dear Western Water reader, 

Clockwise, from top: Lake Powell, on a drought-stressed Colorado River; Subsidence-affected bridge over the Friant-Kern Canal in the San Joaquin Valley;  A homeless camp along the Sacramento River near Old Town Sacramento; Water from a desalination plant in Southern California.Summer is a good time to take a break, relax and enjoy some of the great beaches, waterways and watersheds around California and the West. We hope you’re getting a chance to do plenty of that this July.

But in the weekly sprint through work, it’s easy to miss some interesting nuggets you might want to read. So while we’re taking a publishing break to work on other water articles planned for later this year, we want to help you catch up on Western Water stories from the first half of this year that you might have missed. 

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Western Water May 23, 2019 Colorado River Bundle Gary Pitzer

150 Years After John Wesley Powell Ventured Down the Colorado River, How Should We Assess His Legacy in the West?
WESTERN WATER Q&A: University of Colorado’s Charles Wilkinson on Powell, Water and the American West

We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! We may conjecture many things.

~John Wesley Powell

Explorer John Wesley Powell and Paiute Chief Tau-Gu looking over the Virgin River in 1873.Powell scrawled those words in his journal as he and his expedition paddled their way into the deep walls of the Grand Canyon on a stretch of the Colorado River in August 1869. Three months earlier, the 10-man group had set out on their exploration of the iconic Southwest river by hauling their wooden boats into a major tributary of the Colorado, the Green River in Wyoming, for their trip into the “great unknown,” as Powell described it.

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Western Water May 9, 2019 Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

With Drought Plan in Place, Colorado River Stakeholders Face Even Tougher Talks Ahead On The River’s Future
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Talks are about to begin on a potentially sweeping agreement that could reimagine how the Colorado River is managed

Lake Mead, behind Hoover Dam, shows the effects of nearly two decades of drought. Even as stakeholders in the Colorado River Basin celebrate the recent completion of an unprecedented drought plan intended to stave off a crashing Lake Mead, there is little time to rest. An even larger hurdle lies ahead as they prepare to hammer out the next set of rules that could vastly reshape the river’s future.

Set to expire in 2026, the current guidelines for water deliveries and shortage sharing, launched in 2007 amid a multiyear drought, were designed to prevent disputes that could provoke conflict.

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Western Water April 11, 2019 Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Map Gary Pitzer

Bruce Babbitt Urges Creation of Bay-Delta Compact as Way to End ‘Culture of Conflict’ in California’s Key Water Hub
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Former Interior secretary says Colorado River Compact is a model for achieving peace and addressing environmental and water needs in the Delta

Former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt gives the Anne J. Schneider Lecture April 3 at Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum.  Bruce Babbitt, the former Arizona governor and secretary of the Interior, has been a thoughtful, provocative and sometimes forceful voice in some of the most high-profile water conflicts over the last 40 years, including groundwater management in Arizona and the reduction of California’s take of the Colorado River. In 2016, former California Gov. Jerry Brown named Babbitt as a special adviser to work on matters relating to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the Delta tunnels plan.

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Western Water March 14, 2019 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

‘Mission-Oriented’ Colorado River Veteran Takes the Helm as the US Commissioner of IBWC
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Jayne Harkins’ duties include collaboration with Mexico on Colorado River supply, water quality issues

Jayne Harkins, the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission.For the bulk of her career, Jayne Harkins has devoted her energy to issues associated with the management of the Colorado River, both with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and with the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.

Now her career is taking a different direction. Harkins, 58, was appointed by President Trump last August to take the helm of the United States section of the U.S.-Mexico agency that oversees myriad water matters between the two countries as they seek to sustainably manage the supply and water quality of the Colorado River, including its once-thriving Delta in Mexico, and other rivers the two countries share. She is the first woman to be named the U.S. Commissioner of the International Boundary and Water Commission for either the United States or Mexico in the commission’s 129-year history.

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Tour March 11, 2020 - 7:30am - March 13, 2020 - 6:30pm Nick Gray New Experience Announced for Lower Colorado River Tour: Topock Gorge Boat Trip Get a 'Hard Hat' Tour of Hoover Dam and Visit Lake Mead on Lower Colorado River Tour Take the Pulse of the ‘Lifeline of the Southwest’ on the Lower Colorado River Tour

Lower Colorado River Tour 2020
Field Trip - March 11-13

This tour explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.

The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs is the focus of this tour. 

Silverton Hotel
3333 Blue Diamond Road
Las Vegas, NV 89139
View map
  • Dan Bunk & Mike Bernardo Presentation
  • Seth Shanahan Presentation
  • Chuck Cullom Presentation
  • Vineetha Kartha Presentation
  • Tina Shields Presentation
  • Kevin Hempe Presentation
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Western Water February 28, 2019 Groundwater Education Bundle Gary Pitzer

Imported Water Built Southern California; Now Santa Monica Aims To Wean Itself Off That Supply
WESTERN WATER SPOTLIGHT: Santa Monica is tapping groundwater, rainwater and tighter consumption rules to bring local supply and demand into balance

The Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility (SMURRF) treats dry weather urban runoff to remove pollutants such as sediment, oil, grease, and pathogens for nonpotable use.Imported water from the Sierra Nevada and the Colorado River built Southern California. Yet as drought, climate change and environmental concerns render those supplies increasingly at risk, the Southland’s cities have ramped up their efforts to rely more on local sources and less on imported water.

Far and away the most ambitious goal has been set by the city of Santa Monica, which in 2014 embarked on a course to be virtually water independent through local sources by 2023. In the 1990s, Santa Monica was completely dependent on imported water. Now, it derives more than 70 percent of its water locally.

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Western Water January 4, 2019 Douglas E. Beeman

Women Leading in Water, Colorado River Drought and Promising Solutions — Western Water Year in Review

Dear Western Water readers:

Women named in the last year to water leadership roles (clockwise, from top left): Karla Nemeth, director, California Department of Water Resources; Gloria Gray,  chair, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; Brenda Burman, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner; Jayne Harkins,  commissioner, International Boundary and Water Commission, U.S. and Mexico; Amy Haas, executive director, Upper Colorado River Commission.The growing leadership of women in water. The Colorado River’s persistent drought and efforts to sign off on a plan to avert worse shortfalls of water from the river. And in California’s Central Valley, promising solutions to vexing water resource challenges.

These were among the topics that Western Water news explored in 2018.

We’re already planning a full slate of stories for 2019. You can sign up here to be alerted when new stories are published. In the meantime, take a look at what we dove into in 2018:

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Western Water December 20, 2018 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

As Colorado River Stakeholders Draft a Drought Plan, the Margin for Error in Managing Water Supplies Narrows
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: Climate report and science studies point toward a drier Basin with less runoff and a need to re-evaluate water management

This aerial view of Hoover Dam shows how far the level of Lake Mead has fallen due to ongoing drought conditions.As stakeholders labor to nail down effective and durable drought contingency plans for the Colorado River Basin, they face a stark reality: Scientific research is increasingly pointing to even drier, more challenging times ahead.

The latest sobering assessment landed the day after Thanksgiving, when U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Fourth National Climate Assessment concluded that Earth’s climate is changing rapidly compared to the pace of natural variations that have occurred throughout its history, with greenhouse gas emissions largely the cause.

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Western Water November 2, 2018 Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

As Shortages Loom in the Colorado River Basin, Indian Tribes Seek to Secure Their Water Rights
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: A study of tribal water rights could shed light on future Indian water use

Aerial view of the lower Colorado RiverAs the Colorado River Basin becomes drier and shortage conditions loom, one great variable remains: How much of the river’s water belongs to Native American tribes?

Native Americans already use water from the Colorado River and its tributaries for a variety of purposes, including leasing it to non-Indian users. But some tribes aren’t using their full federal Indian reserved water right and others have water rights claims that have yet to be resolved. Combined, tribes have rights to more water than some states in the Colorado River Basin.

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Western Water September 21, 2018 Colorado River Basin Map California Water Map Gary Pitzer

Despite Risk of Unprecedented Shortage on the Colorado River, Reclamation Commissioner Sees Room for Optimism
WESTERN WATER NOTEBOOK: Commissioner Brenda Burman, in address at Foundation’s Water Summit, also highlights Shasta Dam plan

Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda BurmanThe Colorado River Basin is more than likely headed to unprecedented shortage in 2020 that could force supply cuts to some states, but work is “furiously” underway to reduce the risk and avert a crisis, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman told an audience of California water industry people.

During a keynote address at the Water Education Foundation’s Sept. 20 Water Summit in Sacramento, Burman said there is opportunity for Colorado River Basin states to control their destiny, but acknowledged that in water, there are no guarantees that agreement can be reached.

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Western Water September 7, 2018 Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Gary Pitzer

Can Steadier Releases from Glen Canyon Dam Make Colorado River ‘Buggy’ Enough for Fish and Wildlife?
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Ted Kennedy, U.S. Geological Survey aquatic scientist

U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist Ted Kennedy collects aquatic invertebrates in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon Dam.Water means life for all the Grand Canyon’s inhabitants, including the many varieties of insects that are a foundation of the ecosystem’s food web. But hydropower operations upstream on the Colorado River at Glen Canyon Dam, in Northern Arizona near the Utah border, disrupt the natural pace of insect reproduction as the river rises and falls, sometimes dramatically. Eggs deposited at the river’s edge are often left high and dry and their loss directly affects available food for endangered fish such as the humpback chub.

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Western Water August 10, 2018 Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Gary Pitzer

New Leader Takes Over as the Upper Colorado River Commission Grapples With Less Water and a Drier Climate
WESTERN WATER Q&A: Amy Haas, executive director, Upper Colorado River Commission

Amy Haas, executive director, Upper Colorado River CommissionAmy Haas recently became the first non-engineer and the first woman to serve as executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission in its 70-year history, putting her smack in the center of a host of daunting challenges facing the Upper Colorado River Basin.

Yet those challenges will be quite familiar to Haas, an attorney who for the past year has served as deputy director and general counsel of the commission. (She replaced longtime Executive Director Don Ostler). She has a long history of working within interstate Colorado River governance, including representing New Mexico as its Upper Colorado River commissioner and playing a central role in the negotiation of the recently signed U.S.-Mexico agreement known as Minute 323.

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Western Water June 15, 2018 Jenn Bowles Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Jennifer Bowles

Domino Effect: As Arizona Searches For a Unifying Voice, a Drought Plan for the Lower Colorado River Is Stalled
EDITOR'S NOTE: Finding solutions to the Colorado River — or any disputed river —may be the most important role anyone can play

Nowhere is the domino effect in Western water policy played out more than on the Colorado River, and specifically when it involves the Lower Basin states of California, Nevada and Arizona. We are seeing that play out now as the three states strive to forge a Drought Contingency Plan. Yet that plan can’t be finalized until Arizona finds a unifying voice between its major water players, an effort you can read more about in the latest in-depth article of Western Water.

Even then, there are some issues to resolve just within California.

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Western Water June 15, 2018 Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

As Colorado River Levels Drop, Pressure Grows On Arizona To Complete A Plan For Water Shortages
WESTERN WATER IN-DEPTH: A dispute over who speaks for Arizona has stalled work with California, Nevada on Drought Contingency Plan

Hoover Dam and Lake Mead

It’s high-stakes time in Arizona. The state that depends on the Colorado River to help supply its cities and farms — and is first in line to absorb a shortage — is seeking a unified plan for water supply management to join its Lower Basin neighbors, California and Nevada, in a coordinated plan to preserve water levels in Lake Mead before they run too low.

If the lake’s elevation falls below 1,075 feet above sea level, the secretary of the Interior would declare a shortage and Arizona’s deliveries of Colorado River water would be reduced by 320,000 acre-feet. Arizona says that’s enough to serve about 1 million households in one year.

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Western Water May 18, 2018 Layperson's Guide to Groundwater Gary Pitzer

Could the Arizona Desert Offer California and the West a Guide to Solving Groundwater Problems?
WESTERN WATER SPOTLIGHT: Environmental Defense Fund report highlights strategies from Phoenix and elsewhere for managing demands on groundwater

Skyline of Phoenix, ArizonaAs California embarks on its unprecedented mission to harness groundwater pumping, the Arizona desert may provide one guide that local managers can look to as they seek to arrest years of overdraft.

Groundwater is stressed by a demand that often outpaces natural and artificial recharge. In California, awareness of groundwater’s importance resulted in the landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act in 2014 that aims to have the most severely depleted basins in a state of balance in about 20 years.

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Tour April 11, 2018 - April 13, 2018

Lower Colorado River Tour 2018

Lower Colorado River Tour participants at Hoover Dam.

We explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.

The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs was the focus of this tour.

Hampton Inn Tropicana
4975 Dean Martin Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89118
View map
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Announcement March 28, 2018

Learn About Efforts to Improve Weather Forecasting at San Pedro Drought Workshop
Agenda for April 19 event just posted; check out other topics, speakers

Dramatic swings in weather patterns over the past few years in California are stark reminders of climate variability and regional vulnerability. Alternating years of drought and intense rain events make long-term planning for storing and distributing water a challenging task.

Current weather forecasting capabilities provide details for short time horizons. Attend the Paleo Drought Workshop in San Pedro on April 19 to learn more about research efforts to improve sub-seasonal to seasonal precipitation forecasting, known as S2S, and how those models could provide more useful weather scenarios for resource managers.

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Announcement March 21, 2018

Meager Snowfall in the Rockies Extends Drought Conditions Along Colorado River
Experts offer updates on latest conditions and forecasts during Lower Colorado River Tour April 11-13

A drought has lingered in the Colorado River Basin since 2000, causing reservoir storage to decline from nearly full to about half of capacity. So far this year, a meager snowpack in the Rocky Mountains hasn’t helped much.

In fact, forecasters say this winter will likely go down as the sixth-driest on record for the river system that supplies water to seven states, including California, and Mexico.

On our Lower Colorado River Tour, April 11-13, you will meet with water managers from the three Lower Basin states: Nevada, Arizona and California. The three states are working to finalize a Drought Contingency Plan to take voluntary cuts to keep Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, from hitting critical levels and causing a shortage declaration.

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Announcement March 14, 2018

Improve Drought Preparedness By Digging into the Past at April 19th Workshop in San Pedro
Learn new details about historic droughts in Southern California watersheds and how they provide insight on water management today

Cracked dirt as in a droughtCalifornia’s 2012-2016 drought revealed vulnerabilities for water users throughout the state, and the long-term record suggests more challenges may lie ahead.  

An April 19 workshop in San Pedro will highlight new information about drought durations in Southern California watersheds dating back centuries.

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Western Water March 9, 2018 Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Colorado River Basin Map Gary Pitzer

A Colorado River Raft Trip Offers a Firsthand Lesson in the Power of Nature
ON THE ROAD: Writer Gary Pitzer offers a sense of the Grand Canyon that was first explored by John Wesley Powell

Writer Gary Pitzer at the Grand CanyonMost people see the Grand Canyon from the rim, thousands of feet above where the Colorado River winds through it for almost 300 miles.

But to travel it afloat a raft is to experience the wondrous majesty of the canyon and the river itself while gaining perspective about geology, natural beauty and the passage of time.

Beginning at Lees Ferry, some 30,000 people each year launch downriver on commercial or private trips. Before leaving, they are dutifully briefed by a National Park Service ranger who explains to them about the unique environment that awaits them, how to keep it protected and, most importantly, how to protect themselves.

They also are told about the pair of ravens that will inevitably follow them through the canyon, seizing every opportunity to scrounge food.

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Announcement January 31, 2018

Tour the Lower Colorado River in April and See the ‘Lifeblood of the Southwest’ Up Close
Join us as we visit Hoover Dam and other infrastructure, wildlife refuges, farming regions and the Salton Sea

Tickets are now on sale for the Water Education Foundation’s April 11-13 tour of the Lower Colorado River. 

Don’t miss this opportunity to visit key sites along one of the nation’s most famous rivers, including a private tour of Hoover Dam, Central Arizona Project’s Mark Wilmer pumping plant and the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge. The tour also visits the Salton Sea, Slab City, the All-American Canal and farming regions in the Imperial and Coachella valleys.

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Announcement December 21, 2017

River Report Examines Climate Change Impact on Colorado River Basin

Drought and climate change are having a noticeable impact on the Colorado River Basin, and that is posing potential challenges to those in the Southwestern United States and Mexico who rely on the river.

In the just-released Winter 2017-18 edition of River Report, writer Gary Pitzer examines what scientists project will be the impact of climate change on the Colorado River Basin, and how water managers are preparing for a future of increasing scarcity.

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River Reports December 19, 2017

Winter 2017-18 River Report
A Warmer Future and Increased Risk

Rising temperatures from climate change are having a noticeable effect on how much water is flowing down the Colorado River. Read the latest River Report to learn more about what’s happening, and how water managers are responding.

  • Read River Report Winter 2017-18 here
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Western Water Magazine December 11, 2017

The Colorado River: Living with Risk, Avoiding Curtailment
Fall 2017

This issue of Western Water discusses the challenges facing the Colorado River Basin resulting from persistent drought, climate change and an overallocated river, and how water managers and others are trying to face the future. 

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Tour February 27, 2019 - 7:30am - March 1, 2019 - 6:30pm Nick Gray

Lower Colorado River Tour 2019

This three-day, two-night tour explored the lower Colorado River where virtually every drop of the river is allocated, yet demand is growing from myriad sources — increasing population, declining habitat, drought and climate change.

The 1,450-mile river is a lifeline to 40 million people in the Southwest across seven states and Mexico. How the Lower Basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – use and manage this water to meet agricultural, urban, environmental and industrial needs is the focus of this tour. 

Best Western McCarran Inn
4970 Paradise Road
Las Vegas, NV 89119
View map
  • Warren Turkett
  • Dan Bunk
  • Seth Shanahan
  • Deanna Ikeya
  • Doyle Wilson
  • Gerald Filipiak
  • Sarah Bartlett
  • Tina Shields
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Publication May 20, 2014 Colorado River Basin Map

Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River
Updated 2018

Cover page for the Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River .

The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people and 4 million acres of farmland in a region encompassing some 246,000 square miles in the southwestern United States. The 32-page Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River covers the history of the river’s development; negotiations over division of its water; the items that comprise the Law of the River; and a chronology of significant Colorado River events.

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Publication March 27, 2017

Layperson’s Guide to the Colorado River Delta
Published 2017

The Colorado River Delta once spanned nearly 2 million acres and stretched from the northern tip of the Gulf of California in Mexico to Southern California’s Salton Sea. Today it’s one-tenth that size, yet still an important estuary, wildlife habitat and farming region even though Colorado River flows rarely reach the sea.

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Announcement March 15, 2017

Despite Above-Average Snowfall in the Rockies, Lower Colorado River Likely to Remain in Drought
Experts will update you on the latest conditions and forecasts during our three-day tour

Since 2000, the Colorado River Basin has experienced an historic, extended drought causing reservoir storage in the Colorado River system to decline from nearly full to about half of capacity. For the Lower Basin, a key point has been to maintain the level of Lake Mead to prevent a shortage declaration.

A healthy snowfall in the Rockies has reduced the odds of a shortage this year, but the basin states still must come to terms with a static supply and growing demands, as well as future impacts from climate change.

On our Lower Colorado River Tour, April 5-7, you will meet with water managers from the three Lower Basin states: Nevada, Arizona and California. Federal, state and local agencies will update you on the latest hydrologic conditions and how recent storms might change plans for water supply and storage.

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Aquapedia background December 29, 2016

Quagga mussel

Quagga musselsA troublesome invasive species is the quagga mussel, a tiny freshwater mollusk that attaches itself to water utility infrastructure and reproduces at a rapid rate, causing damage to pipes and pumps.

First found in the Great Lakes in 1988 (dumped with ballast water from overseas ships), the quagga mussel along with the zebra mussel are native to the rivers and lakes of eastern Europe and western Asia, including the Black, Caspian and Azov Seas and the Dneiper River drainage of Ukraine and Ponto-Caspian Sea.  

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Western Water Magazine November 16, 2016

Two Countries, One River: Crafting a New Agreement
Fall 2016

This issue of Western Water examines the ongoing effort between the United States and Mexico to develop a new agreement to the 1944 Treaty that will continue the binational cooperation on constructing Colorado River infrastructure, storing water in Lake Mead and providing instream flows for the Colorado River Delta.

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Western Water Excerpt November 10, 2016 Jenn Bowles

Two Countries, One River: Crafting a New Agreement
Fall 2016

As vital as the Colorado River is to the United States and Mexico, so is the ongoing process by which the two countries develop unique agreements to better manage the river and balance future competing needs.

The prospect is challenging. The river is over allocated as urban areas and farmers seek to stretch every drop of their respective supplies. Since a historic treaty between the two countries was signed in 1944, the United States and Mexico have periodically added a series of arrangements to the treaty called minutes that aim to strengthen the binational ties while addressing important water supply, water quality and environmental concerns.

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Aquapedia background August 30, 2016

Lake Havasu & Parker Dam

Lake Havasu is a reservoir on the Colorado River that supplies water to the Colorado River Aqueduct and Central Arizona Project. It is located at the California/Arizona border, approximately 150 miles southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada and 30 miles southeast of Needles, California.

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  • Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River
Aquapedia background August 30, 2016

Lake Mathews

Situated in southwest Riverside County near the Santa Ana Mountains – about 60 miles southeast of Los Angeles – Lake Mathews is a major reservoir in Southern California.

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  • Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River
Aquapedia background August 25, 2016

All-American Canal

As one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, the Imperial Valley receives its water from the Colorado River via the All-American Canal. Rainfall is scarce in the desert region at less than three inches per year and groundwater is of little value. 

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Western Water Magazine January 15, 2016

Historic Drought and the Colorado River: Today and Tomorrow
November/December 2015

This issue looks at the historic drought that has gripped the Colorado River Basin since 2000 and discusses the lessons learned, the continuing challenges and what the future might hold.

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Western Water Excerpt January 15, 2016 Jenn Bowles

Historic Drought and the Colorado River: Today and Tomorrow
November/December 2015

The dramatic decline in water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell is perhaps the most visible sign of the historic drought that has gripped the Colorado River Basin for the past 16 years. In 2000, the reservoirs stood at nearly 100 percent capacity; today, Lake Powell is at 49 percent capacity while Lake Mead has dropped to 38 percent. Before the late season runoff of Miracle May, it looked as if Mead might drop low enough to trigger the first-ever Lower Basin shortage determination in 2016.

Read the excerpt below from the Sept./Oct. 2015 issue along with the editor’s note. Click here to subscribe to Western Water and get full access.

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Western Water Magazine June 15, 2015

Countdown at the Salton Sea
May/June 2015

This issue looks at the dilemma of the shrinking Salton Sea. The shallow, briny inland lake at the southeastern edge of California is slowly evaporating and becoming more saline – threatening the habitat for fish and birds and worsening air quality as dust from the dry lakebed is whipped by the constant winds.

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Western Water Excerpt June 12, 2015

Countdown at the Salton Sea
May/June 2015

The clock is ticking for the Salton Sea.

The shallow, briny inland lake at the southeastern edge of California is slowly evaporating and becoming more saline – threatening the habitat for fish and birds and worsening air quality as dust from the dry lakebed is whipped by the constant winds.

(Read this excerpt from the May/June 2015 issue along with the editor’s note. Click here to subscribe to Western Water and get full access.)

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Western Water Excerpt December 23, 2014 Jenn Bowles

The Next Steps of the Colorado River Basin Study
November/December 2014

After much time, study and investment, the task of identifying solutions to ensure the long-term sus­tainability of the Colorado River is underway. People from the Upper and Lower basins representing all interest groups are preparing to put their signatures to documents aimed at ensuring the river’s vitality for the next 50 years and beyond.

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Tour March 11, 2015 - March 13, 2015 Images from the Lower Colorado River Tour

Lower Colorado River Tour 2015
Field Trip (past)

This 3-day, 2-night tour followed the course of the lower Colorado River through Nevada, Arizona and California, and included a private tour of Hoover Dam.

  • Learn More About the Tour
  • Travel Option for the Lower Colorado River Tour
  • General Tour Information
  • Colorado River Basin: Current Conditions and Operational Update - D. Bunk, USDOI
  • Intentionally Created Surplus (ICS) fact sheet
  • Law of the River fact sheet
  • Imperial Dam fact sheet
  • Integrating Agriculture & Conservation: The IID Case Study - T. Shields, IID
  • Bark Beetles, Dust on Snow, and Management under Uncertainty - R. Smith
  • Current Conditions and Water Supply Outlook for the Colorado River Basin - R. Smith
  • The long perspective on Colorado River flow from tree rings - R. Smith
  • Colorado River Commission - W. Turkett
  • Lake Havasu City Water Supply
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River Reports June 13, 2014

Cutting Colorado River Use: The California Plan
November/December 1998

This issue updates progress on crafting and implementing California’s 4.4 plan to reduce its use of Colorado River water by 800,000 acre-feet. The state has used as much as 5.2 million acre-feet of Colorado River water annually, but under pressure from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the other six states that share this resource, California’s Colorado River parties have been trying to close the gap between demand and supply. The article – delayed to include the latest information from Babbitt’s Dec.

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River Reports June 13, 2014

The California Plan and the Salton Sea
November/December 2001

This issue updates progress on California’s Colorado River Water Use Plan (commonly called the 4.4 Plan ), with a special focus on the Salton Sea restoration/water transfer dilemma. It also includes information on the proposed MWD-Palo Verde Irrigation District deal, the Colorado River Delta, and the legislative debate in the national and state capitals.

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River Reports June 13, 2014

Can California Make the 4.4 Plan Work?
March/April 2003

With passage of the original Dec. 31, 2002, deadline to have a Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) in place for the Colorado River, California suffered a cutback in the surplus Colorado River flows it had relied upon by years. Further negotiations followed in an attempt to bring the California parties to an agreement. This issue examines the history leading to the QSA, the state of affairs of the so-called 4.4 Plan as of early March, and gives readers a clearer crystal ball with which to speculate about California’s water future on the Colorado River.

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River Reports June 13, 2014

The Ties that Bind: The Evolving Policy of the Colorado River
March/April 2004

This issue of Western Water provides the latest information on some of the philosophical, political and practical ideas being discussed on the river. Some of these issues were discussed at the Water Education Foundation’s Colorado River Symposium, “The Ties that Bind: Policy and the Evolving Law of the Colorado River,” held last fall at The Bishop’s Lodge in Santa Fe, New Mexico – site of negotiations on the 1922 Colorado River Compact.

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River Reports June 13, 2014

Facing the Future: Modifying Management of the Colorado River
January/February 2006

This issue of Western Water explores the issues surrounding and the components of the Colorado River Basin seven-state proposed agreement released Feb. 3 regarding sharing shortages on the river, and new plans to improve the river’s management. The article includes excerpts from the Foundation’s September 2005 Colorado River Symposium held in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

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River Reports June 13, 2014

1922-2007: 85 Years of the Colorado River Compact
November/December 2007

This issue of Western Water marks the 85th anniversary of the Colorado River Compact and considers its role in the past and present on key issues such as federal funding for water projects and international issues. Much of the content for this magazine came from the Foundation’s September Colorado River Symposium, The Colorado River Compact at 85 and Changes on the River.

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Product May 29, 2014

Colorado River Facts Slide Card

This card includes information about the Colorado River, who uses the river, how the river’s water is divided and other pertinent facts about this vital resource for the Southwest. Beautifully illustrated with color photographs.

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Product May 29, 2014

Colorado River Compact 75th Anniversary Symposium Proceedings

In 1997, the Foundation sponsored a three-day, invitation-only symposium at Bishop’s Lodge, New Mexico, site of the 1922 Colorado River Compact signing, to discuss the historical implications of that agreement, current Colorado River issues and future challenges. The 204-page proceedings features the panel discussions and presentations on such issues as the Law of the River, water marketing and environmental restoration.

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Video May 22, 2014

Shaping of the West: 100 Years of Reclamation

30-minute DVD that traces the history of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and its role in the development of the West. Includes extensive historic footage of farming and the construction of dams and other water projects, and discusses historic and modern day issues.

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014 Colorado River Bundle

Colorado River Basin Map
Redesigned in 2017

Redesigned in 2017, this beautiful map depicts the seven Western states that share the Colorado River with Mexico. The Colorado River supplies water to nearly 40 million people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and the country of Mexico. Text on this beautiful, 24×36-inch map, which is suitable for framing, explains the river’s apportionment, history and the need to adapt its management for urban growth and expected climate change impacts.

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Maps & Posters May 20, 2014

Nevada Water Map
Published 2004

This 24×36 inch poster, suitable for framing, illustrates the water resources available for Nevada cities, agriculture and the environment. It features natural and manmade water resources throughout the state, including the Truckee and Carson rivers, Lake Tahoe, Pyramid Lake and the course of the Colorado River that forms the state’s eastern boundary.

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Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law
Updated 2020

The 28-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Rights Law, recognized as the most thorough explanation of California water rights law available to non-lawyers, traces the authority for water flowing in a stream or reservoir, from a faucet or into an irrigation ditch through the complex web of California water rights.

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Publication May 20, 2014

Layperson’s Guide to Water Marketing
Updated 2005

The 20-page Layperson’s Guide to Water Marketing provides background information on water rights, types of transfers and critical policy issues surrounding this topic. First published in 1996, the 2005 version offers expanded information on groundwater banking and conjunctive use, Colorado River transfers and the role of private companies in California’s developing water market. 

Order in bulk (25 or more copies of the same guide) for a reduced fee. Contact the Foundation, 916-444-6240, for details.

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Publication May 20, 2014 California Water Map

Layperson’s Guide to California Water
Updated 2021

The 24-page Layperson’s Guide to California Water provides an excellent overview of the history of water development and use in California. It includes sections on flood management; the state, federal and Colorado River delivery systems; Delta issues; water rights; environmental issues; water quality; and options for stretching the water supply such as water marketing and conjunctive use. New in this 10th edition of the guide is a section on the human need for water. 

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Photo gallery May 16, 2014

Images from the Lower Colorado River Tour

Copper Basin
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Maps & Posters April 17, 2014 California Water Bundle

California Water Map
Updated December 2016

A new look for our most popular product! And it’s the perfect gift for the water wonk in your life.

Our 24×36 inch California Water Map is widely known for being the definitive poster that shows the integral role water plays in the state. On this updated version, it is easier to see California’s natural waterways and man-made reservoirs and aqueducts – including federally, state and locally funded projects – the wild and scenic rivers system, and natural lakes. The map features beautiful photos of California’s natural environment, rivers, water projects, wildlife, and urban and agricultural uses and the text focuses on key issues: water supply, water use, water projects, the Delta, wild and scenic rivers and the Colorado River.

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Tour February 26, 2014 Images from the Lower Colorado River Tour

Lower Colorado River Tour 2014
Field Trip (past)

The 2014 tour was held February 26 – 28.

This 3-day, 2-night tour follows the course of the lower Colorado River through Nevada, Arizona and California, and includes a private tour of Hoover Dam.

  • Southern Nevada's Water Needs
  • Colorado River Presentation
  • Atmospheric Rivers and the Colorado Basin
  • Dust on Snow, Bark Beetles and Extreme Events
  • Tree Ring Forecasting
  • Spring 2014 Runoff Outlook
  • Colorado River Basin: Current Conditions and Operarional Update
  • Colorado River Facts
  • Inadvertent Overrun and Payback Policy (IOPP)
  • Law of the River
  • 2014 Forecast of Consumptive Water Use
  • Lake Havasu City Water Supply
  • California Tribal Water Rights
  • IID Imperial Dam
  • IID Water Trasportation
  • Yuma County Ag Stats
  • Acronyms Cheat Sheet
  • The Latest Big Controversy on the Age of the Grand Canyon
  • Read more
Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Salton Sea

As part of the historic Colorado River Delta, the Salton Sea regularly filled and dried for thousands of years due to its elevation of 237 feet below sea level.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Quantification Settlement Agreement

The Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA), signed in 2003, defined the rights to a portion of Colorado River water for San Diego County Water Authority, Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

  • Read more
Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Colorado River Water and Mexico

The Mexican Water Treaty of 1944 committed the U.S. to deliver 1.5 million acre-feet of water to Mexico on an annual basis, plus an additional 200,000 acre-feet under surplus conditions. The treaty is overseen by the International Boundary and Water Commission.

Colorado River water is delivered to Mexico at Morelos Dam, located 1.1 miles downstream from where the California-Baja California land boundary intersects the river between the town of Los Algodones in northwestern Mexico and Yuma County, Ariz.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Colorado River Delta (in Mexico)

The Colorado River Delta is located at the natural terminus of the Colorado River at the Gulf of California, just south of the U.S.-Mexico border. The desert ecosystem was formed by silt flushed downstream from the Colorado and fresh and brackish water mixing at the Gulf.

The Colorado River Delta once covered 9,650 square miles but has shrunk to less than 1 percent of its original size due to human-made water diversions.

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014 Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River

Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program

The Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Conservation Program aims to balance use of Colorado River water resources with the conservation of native species and their habitat. A key component of the program is the restoration and enhancement of existing riparian and marsh habitat along the lower Colorado River. 

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014

Lee Ferry

Lee Ferry, the dividing point under the 1922 Colorado River Compact between the Upper Basin and Lower Basin.

Lee Ferry on the Arizona-Utah border is a key dividing point between the Colorado River’s Upper and Lower basins.

This split is important when it comes to determining how much water will be delivered from the Upper Basin to the Lower Basin [for a description of the Upper and Lower basins, visit the Colorado River page].

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Aquapedia background February 11, 2014 Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River

Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam

Image shows Glen Canyon Dam with Lake Powell in the background.The construction of Glen Canyon Dam in 1964 created Lake Powell. Both are located in north-central Arizona near the Utah border. Lake Powell acts as a holding tank for outflow from the Colorado River Upper Basin States: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The water stored in Lake Powell is used for recreation, power generation and delivering water to the Lower Basin states of California, Arizona, and Nevada. 

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Aquapedia background February 10, 2014

John Wesley Powell

John Wesley Powell (1834-1902) was historic and heroic for being first to lead an expedition down the Colorado River in 1869. A major who lost an arm in the Civil War Battle of Shiloh, he was an explorer, geologist, geographer and ethnologist.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Colorado River Water Use 4.4 Plan

California’s Colorado River Water Use Plan (known colloquially as the 4.4 Plan) intends to wean the state from its reliance on the surplus flows from the river and return California to its annual 4.4 million acre-feet basic apportionment of the river.

In the past, California has also used more than its basic apportionment.  Consequently, the U.S. Department of Interior urged California to devise a plan to reduce its water consumption to its basic entitlement.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Colorado River Timeline

600 Ancestral Pueblo and Hohokam Indians develop water distribution systems.

1500 Spanish explorers introduce livestock and ditch systems called acequias.

1847 Mormons arrive in the Salt Lake Valley; begin cultivating farmland.

1859 Oliver Wozencraft promotes idea of irrigating the Imperial Valley.

1865 Lower Colorado River lands begin to be set aside for American Indians.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

Colorado River 2007 Interim Guidelines And Drought Contingency Plans

In 2005, after six years of severe drought in the Colorado River Basin, federal officials and representatives of the seven basin states — California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming — began building a framework to better respond to drought conditions and coordinate the operations of the basin’s two key reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

The resulting Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead (Interim Guidelines) identified the conditions for shortage determinations and details of coordinated reservoir operations. The 2007 Interim Guidelines remain in effect through Dec. 31, 2025.

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Aquapedia background January 30, 2014 Colorado River Basin Map Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Layperson's Guide to the Colorado River Delta

Colorado River

Colorado RiverThe turbulent Colorado River is one of the most heavily regulated and hardest working rivers in the world.

Geography

The Colorado falls some 10,000 feet on its way from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California, helping to sustain a range of habitats and ecosystems as it weaves through mountains and deserts.

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  • Colorado River Timeline
Western Water Magazine November 1, 2013

An Era of New Partnerships on the Colorado River
November/December 2013

This printed issue of Western Water examines how the various stakeholders have begun working together to meet the planning challenges for the Colorado River Basin, including agreements with Mexico, increased use of conservation and water marketing, and the goal of accomplishing binational environmental restoration and water-sharing programs.

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Western Water Magazine November 1, 2012

A Call to Action? The Colorado River Basin Supply and Demand Study
November/December 2012

This printed issue of Western Water examines the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study and what its finding might mean for the future of the lifeblood of the Southwest.

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Western Water Excerpt November 1, 2012 Gary PitzerRita Schmidt Sudman

A Call to Action? The Colorado River Basin Supply and Demand Study
November/December 2012

The Colorado River is one of the most heavily relied upon water supply sources in the world, serving 35 million people in seven states and Mexico. The river provides water to large cities, irrigates fields, powers turbines to generate electricity, thrills recreational enthusiasts and serves as a home for birds, fish and wildlife.

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Western Water Magazine November 1, 2011

Solving the Colorado River Basin’s Math Problem: Adapting to Change
November/December 2011

This printed issue of Western Water explores the historic nature of some of the key agreements in recent years, future challenges, and what leading state representatives identify as potential “worst-case scenarios.” Much of the content for this issue of Western Water came from the in-depth panel discussions at the Colorado River Symposium. The Foundation will publish the full proceedings of the Symposium in 2012.

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Western Water Magazine November 1, 2010

The Colorado River Drought: A Sobering Glimpse into the Future
November/December 2010

This printed issue of Western Water examines the Colorado River drought, and the ongoing institutional and operational changes underway to maintain the system and meet the future challenges in the Colorado River Basin.

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Western Water Magazine November 1, 2009

The Colorado River: Building a Sustainable Future
November/December 2009

This printed issue of Western Water explores some of the major challenges facing Colorado River stakeholders: preparing for climate change, forging U.S.-Mexico water supply solutions and dealing with continued growth in the basins states. Much of the content for this issue of Western Water came from the in-depth panel discussions at the September 2009 Colorado River Symposium.

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Western Water Magazine September 1, 2008

Just Add Water? Restoring the Colorado River Delta
September/October 2008

This printed copy of Western Water examines the Colorado River Delta, its ecological significance and the lengths to which international, state and local efforts are targeted and achieving environmental restoration while recognizing the needs of the entire river’s many users.

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Western Water Magazine May 1, 2007

The Struggle to Secure Water in the Southwest
May/June 2007

This issue of Western Water asks whether a groundwater compact is needed to manage this shared resource today. In the water-stressed West, there will need to be a recognition of sharing water resources or a line will need to be drawn in the sand against future growth.

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Western Water Excerpt May 1, 2007 Gary PitzerRita Schmidt Sudman

The Struggle to Secure Water in the Southwest
May/Jun 2007

“In the West, when you touch water, you touch everything.” – Rep. Wayne Aspinall, D-Colorado, chair, House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, 1959-1973

Rapid population growth and chronic droughts could augur dramatic changes for communities along the lower Colorado River. In Arizona, California and Nevada, a robust economy is spurring communities to find enough water to sustain the steady pace of growth. Established cities such as Las Vegas and Phoenix continue their expansion but there is also activity in smaller, rural areas on Arizona’s northwest fringe where developers envision hundreds of thousands of new homes in the coming decades.

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Western Water Magazine July 1, 2005

On the Edge: Defusing Tensions on the Colorado River
July/August 2005

With interstate discussions of critical Colorado River issues seemingly headed for stalemate, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton stepped in May 2 to defuse, or at least defer, a potentially divisive debate over water releases from Lake Powell.

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Western Water Excerpt July 1, 2005 Glenn TottenRita Schmidt Sudman

On the Edge: Defusing Tensions on the Colorado River
Jul/Aug 2005

With interstate discussions of critical Colorado River issues seemingly headed for stalemate, Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton stepped in May 2 to defuse, or at least defer, a potentially divisive debate over water releases from Lake Powell. In a letter to governors of the seven Colorado River Basin states, Norton preserved the status quo of river operations for five months, giving states and stakeholders a chance to move back from the edge before positions had hardened on two key issues: (1) shortage guidelines for the Lower Basin and (2) Upper Basin/ Lower Basin reservoir operations, particularly at Lake Powell. But Norton served notice that she wants discussions on those two issues to continue, possibly outside of the annual operation plan (AOP) consultation process, which at least one observer described as unwieldy.

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Western Water Magazine March 1, 2002

The Colorado River: Coming to Consensus Inside: A Conversation with Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley
March/April 2002

Drawn from a special Colorado River stakeholder symposium held in January 2002 at The Bishop’s Lodge in Santa Fe, New Mexico, this article provides an overview of several Colorado River issues that may or may not be resolved through consensus. Some of these issues include providing water for the Colorado River Delta, endangered species, dam re-operation and potential future trends around the basin as they relate to the California 4.4 Plan, drought and governance.

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Western Water Excerpt March 1, 2002 Josh NewcomRita Schmidt Sudman

The Colorado River: Coming to Consensus
Mar/Apr 2002

The situation is true anywhere: when resources are stretched, tensions rise. In the arid Southwestern United States, this resource is water and tensions over it have been ever present since the westward migration in the 18th Century. Nowhere in this region has the competition for water been fiercer than in the Colorado River Basin. Whether it is more water for agriculture, more water for cities, more water for American Indian tribes or more water for the environment – there is a continuous quest by parties to obtain additional supplies of this “liquid gold” from the Colorado River. Sometimes the avenue chosen to acquire this desert wealth is the court system, as exemplified by the landmark Arizona v. California dispute that stretched for over 30 years.

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Western Water Magazine November 1, 1999

Managing the Colorado River
November/December 1999

Drawn from a special stakeholder symposium held in September 1999 in Keystone, Colorado, this issue explores how we got to where we are today on the Colorado River; an era in which the traditional water development of the past has given way to a more collaborative approach that tries to protect the environment while stretching available water supplies. Specific topics addressed include the role of the Interior secretary in the basin, California’s 4.4 plan, water marketing and future challenges identified by participants.

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Western Water Magazine November 1, 1999

Managing the Colorado River
November/December 1999

Drawn from a special stakeholder symposium held in September 1999 in Keystone, Colorado, this issue explores how we got to where we are today on the Colorado River; an era in which the traditional water development of the past has given way to a more collaborative approach that tries to protect the environment while stretching available water supplies.

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