The construction of Glen Canyon Dam in north-central Arizona also
created Lake Powell. Lake Powell serves as a holding tank for the
Colorado River Upper Basin States: Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and
Wyoming.
Our third La Niña weather pattern in three years seems almost
certain, and one climate expert says that could be bad news for
the already overtapped Colorado River. … The Climate
Prediction Center for the National Atmospheric and Oceanic
Administration forecast a 91% chance of a La Niña weather
pattern dominating the Northern Hemisphere from September
through November, and a 54% chance from January through March
of 2023. La Niña winters typically mean drier, warmer weather
in the Southwest that can, although doesn’t always, spread as
far north as Colorado’s southern Rockies, which would clearly
drive down Colorado River flows. The last two to three
years in particular have seen fairly low to very low river
flows in the basin, at the same time La Niña conditions were
present.
The clock is ticking for the Colorado River, but solutions on
how to save the river basin, which provides water to 40 million
people in seven states and Mexico, still appears to be elusive,
at least from the federal government. However, proposed
solutions are starting to bubble up through Colorado
agriculture’s community, including projects that received
funding to address drought this week from the Colorado Water
Conservation Board.
At dusk, the bats appear in the ghost forest that surrounds
us—blackened tree trunks encrusted with a white coating. These
cottonwood and willow groves are long dead but, amazingly,
still upright after more than half a century underwater. I
am camped on the fickle shoreline of Lake Powell, the
second largest reservoir in the United States, after Lake
Mead. Once a vacation destination visited by two million people
annually—as a kid I learned to water-ski there during family
visits in the 1980s—Lake Powell is today just a hint of its
former self, littered with stranded boat ramps and even entire
abandoned marinas. Instead of a recreation idyll, it’s a symbol
of water troubles in the West and the impact of climate change.
Arizona farmers this year benefitted from mitigation water that
otherwise would have cut their Central Arizona Project
irrigation deliveries to zero. They won’t be so fortunate next
year. When the Bureau of Reclamation issued its first-ever
Tier 1 restriction of Colorado River water from Lake Mead,
Arizona’s farmers faced the elimination of their surface water
supplies from the Central Arizona Project (CAP) for 2022. That
portion of CAP surface water, known as the “ag pool,” is part
of a 512,000-acre-foot cut Arizona faced under the restrictions
as part of the Drought Contingency Plan, an agreement designed
to preserve water in the Colorado River system.
The compact — essentially an interstate treaty — set the rules
for apportioning the waters of the river. It was a crucial step
in construction of Hoover Dam, which could not have been built
without the states’ assent. The compact stands as a landmark in
the development of Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Phoenix and
other Western metropolises. But it is also a symbol of the
folly of unwarranted expectations. That’s because the
compact was built on a lie about the capacity of the Colorado
River to serve the interests of the Western states — a lie that
Westerners will be grappling with for decades to come.
-Written by Los Angeles Times columnist Michael
Hiltzik.
The National Park Service announced that they are removing some
invasive fish that are threatening another native fishing
species from the Colorado River below the Glen Canyon Dam. The
agency said they are removing smallmouth bass and green
sunfish, which are “threatening the recovery of humpback chub”
who are protected under the Endangered Species Act.
… The agency said the invasive fish will be killed by
use of “EPA-approved fish piscicide rotenone (CFT legumine).”
A top Centennial State official warned Colorado River Basin
states that the system’s federal reservoirs could effectively
empty in a few short years barring aggressive reductions to
water demands. Colorado River Water Conservation District
General Manager Andy Mueller painted a bleak future for the
basin’s seven states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada,
New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — on Friday, during his
organization’s annual conference in Grand Junction, Colo., on
the river’s future. … More than two decades of drought
have significantly diminished the Colorado River, which spans
1,450 miles and supplies water to some 40 million individuals.
One month after states missed a federal deadline to propose
ways to drastically cut their use of water supplied by the
Colorado River, water managers who met for a seminar in Grand
Junction said they still didn’t have comprehensive solutions
ready to help bolster the imperiled river system. Water
leaders, agricultural producers, environmentalists and others
from across the drought-stricken river basin met Friday for the
Colorado River District’s annual water seminar to discuss the
historic-low levels in the river’s biggest reservoirs — and the
need to cut back usage from Wyoming to California. While the
problems the basin faces were apparent in the day-long
discussions about the state of the river, solutions were not.
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.
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.”
The second driest state in the country, Utah, doesn’t
contribute much water to the Colorado River as it flows from
Rocky Mountain headwaters through Canyonlands National Park to
Lake Powell. Utah has a unique position in the middle of
the river basin, geographically and politically, and it wields
less influence than thirstier and more populous states like
Colorado, California and Arizona. Its sprawling urban
centers along the Wasatch Front, which are home to 80% of the
state’s population, are outside of the Colorado River Basin and
are less dependent on the river than cities like Phoenix or Las
Vegas. Only 27% of the water used in Utah comes from the
Colorado River, with the majority of the state’s water supply
coming from other rivers that feed into the Great Salt Lake.
Colorado River tributaries in New Mexico bring water to the
alfalfa fields in the Four Corners and the forested hills of
the Gila wilderness in the southwestern part of the state. But
Colorado River and reservoir management was designed during a
much wetter period. And now, water officials are grappling with
how to make do with less. State Engineer Mike Hamman, New
Mexico’s top water manager, said the state “really feels the
shortages” because it doesn’t have the big reservoirs of other
states in the Colorado River Basin. … Nevada, Arizona
and Mexico will all receive less water from the Colorado River
next year because of rapidly-declining reservoirs, the Interior
Department announced on Aug. 16.
Faced with deep cuts to the water supply, and angry that other
states are not doing their share, tribes and local governments
in Arizona are increasingly talking about backing off earlier
offers to give up some water. The Gila River Indian Community
said in August that it will begin storing
water underground “rather than contributing them to system
conservation programs for Lake Mead.” Officials in Phoenix,
Scottsdale, Tucson, Peoria and Glendale are considering
following suit, asking to get their full allotment of water
instead of financial compensation they might have received for
reducing their take from the system…. But a spokesperson
for the California Natural Resources Agency said the state has
long been working for years to conserve Colorado River water
and that it is continuing to do so.
“You’re looking at the most endangered fish in North America,”
Zane Olsen, the manager of the Ouray National Fish Hatchery
tells me as he points to a deep open-topped water tank. Inside
are dozens of juvenile bonytail, the rarest of four endangered
native Colorado River fish species and one Olsen and his
colleagues are trying to bring back from the brink of
extinction. … The native fish have not fared so well
over the past century since humans began trying to make the
western desert bloom by damming the Colorado and its
tributaries, a watershed that was once one of the most
biologically diverse in North America.
The water managers of the Yakima River basin in arid Central
Washington know what it’s like to fight over water, just like
their counterparts along the Colorado River are fighting now.
… But a decade ago, the water managers of the Yakima Basin
tried something different. Tired of spending more time in
courtrooms than at conference tables, and faced with studies
showing the situation would only get worse, they hashed out a
plan to manage the Yakima River and its tributaries for the
next 30 years to ensure a stable supply of water.
… Lake Mead’s own decline threatens to upend a vast irrigated
agricultural empire in Southern California and southwestern
Arizona, and to restrict or eventually cut off a significant
source of hydroelectricity and household water for the urban
Southwest. Powell once seemed Mead’s failsafe backup, a
reservoir that, in a wet string of years, could accumulate far
more than what the river delivers in a single year. During dry
spells, it could pour its excess through Grand Canyon and into
Mead, supplying users downstream. Now the excess was gone.
… If the snows that melt to replenish the reservoir are
lower than expected this winter, the dam’s managers warn, it’s
possible that water will dip below Glen Canyon Dam’s hydropower
intakes by the end of 2023.
California water districts are under growing pressure to
shoulder substantial water cutbacks as the federal government
pushes for urgent solutions to prevent the Colorado River’s
badly depleted reservoirs from reaching dangerously low
levels. … Federal officials from the Interior Department
and the Bureau of Reclamation have also laid out plans
that could bring additional federal leverage to bear. Their
plan to reexamine and possibly redefine what constitutes
“beneficial use” of water in the three Lower Basin states —
California, Arizona and Nevada — could open an avenue to a
critical look at how water is used in farming areas and cities.
Lower water levels at Lake Powell and rising temperatures in
the Colorado River are contributing to dangerously low
dissolved oxygen levels below Glen Canyon Dam, causing concern
for the health of the trout fishery located near Lees Ferry.
The Bureau of Reclamation works with the U.S. Geological Survey
to closely monitor water quality conditions and is working with
partners and stakeholders to better understand potential
effects. Fish native to the Colorado River, such as humpback
chub and razorback sucker, are generally located farther
downstream where low dissolved oxygen levels are remedied by
riffles and runs, which aerate the water.
This is the Jim Bridger power plant, one of the largest
coal-fired power sources in the nation and an enormous emitter
of carbon dioxide pollution. … The plant sucks up about 16
million gallons of water each day, using it to power more than
million homes across six western states, all the way to Oregon.
But there’s a problem that looms for the coal plant operator
and the customers that rely on it for electricity. This water
is piped here from the Green River, a tributary of the rapidly
shrinking Colorado River. Now, amidst a decades-long drought
and a shortage of water downstream across the Southwest, future
conservation in the basin could mean industrial users like Jim
Bridger see their water shut off, says Wyoming State Engineer
Brandon Gebhart.
Water managers in recent weeks have put forth plans for
conservation aimed at addressing the water-scarcity crisis on
the Colorado River. But the proposals, which are vague and
voluntary and lack goals with numbers, will probably do little
to get additional water into the nation’s two largest
reservoirs with the urgency officials say is needed.
The western United States is, famously, in the grips of its
worst megadrought in a millennium. The Colorado River, which
supplies water to more than 40 million Americans and supports
food production for the rest of the country, is in imminent
peril. … The Bureau of Reclamation, which governs lakes Mead
and Powell and water distribution for the southern end of the
river, has issued an ultimatum: The seven states that draw from
the Colorado must find ways to cut their consumption — by as
much as 40% — or the federal government will do it for them.
Last week those states failed to agree on new conservation
measures by deadline.
Joe O’Dea, the GOP contender for the U.S. Senate, insisted that
the Upper Basin states, which include Colorado, shouldn’t be
“held responsible” for drastic reductions in water use and that
California, Nevada and Arizona should “step up,” arguing the
latter have been overusing their allotment from the Colorado
River. Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who hopes to keep
his seat, emphasized his work to bring fiscal resources to
Colorado and the rest of the West, which face a decades-long
drought condition compelling them to explore potentially
drastic solutions to their water woes.
No one knows exactly why, in the 14th century, the Hohokam
abandoned Pueblo Grande and other settlements across the Salt
River Valley. Two hypotheses (perhaps not mutually exclusive)
are that the Hohokam were laid low by prolonged drought and
that hundreds of years of relentless irrigation salinized the
soil, which in turn led to a collapse in agriculture.
… Today, Pueblo Grande lies at the heart of a sprawling
15,000-square-mile megalopolis with some 4.9 million residents,
which for the better part of half a century has been among the
fastest-growing metropolitan regions in the United
States. Like the previous civilization over which it is
built, Phoenix must rely on maintaining control of that most
precious and fleeting of desert resources: water.
At a Senate committee hearing on June 14, Bureau of Reclamation
Commissioner Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton sat before
federal lawmakers and delivered a grave ultimatum on the
Colorado River. Without significant cuts to water use, she
warned, Lake Powell and Lake Mead — the nation’s two largest
reservoirs — could fall so low that hydropower production could
cease in the near future. At that point, the Bureau of
Reclamation, which manages both reservoirs, would struggle to
deliver water to the majority of the 40 million people who rely
on the Colorado River.
After Colorado River Basin states failed to meet a deadline for
emergency drought reductions Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation announced new emergency water cuts for Arizona,
Nevada and Mexico as the nation’s two largest reservoirs
decline to perilously low levels. The seven states that rely on
Colorado River water were told two months ago to develop plans
to drastically reduce water use by 2 million to 4 million
acre-feet, but those talks have grown acrimonious. At a news
conference Tuesday, federal officials said that an agreement
was urgently needed and that it was declaring a Tier 2 shortage
for next year — a historic first for the shrinking river.
… Arizona’s annual water apportionment will be reduced
by 21%, Nevada’s by 8% and Mexico’s by 7%. There is no required
water savings contribution for California.
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.
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.
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.
Managing 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.
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.
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.
The 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
As 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.
The 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.
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.
Amy 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A 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.
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.
Water as a renewable resource is depicted in this 18×24 inch
poster. Water is renewed again and again by the natural
hydrologic cycle where water evaporates, transpires from plants,
rises to form clouds, and returns to the earth as precipitation.
Excellent for elementary school classroom use.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
