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.
There 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.
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.
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.
As we turn the page to 2022, we are cautiously
returning to in-person tours and events in mid-March with
our Lower Colorado River Tour. While the current COVID-19
strain, omicron, is expected to fizzle out by then, we will be
implementing precautions to keep everyone safe.
Our popular Water Leaders program celebrates its 25th
anniversary this year, and we’ll be planning a reunion
event this summer for all alumni going back to the first
class in 1997! … With the success of our Water Leaders
program in California, we’ve decided to launch a similar
program for the Colorado River Basin this
year. Applications are due by Jan. 28. Get more information
here and sign up for a virtual Q&A session today.
(Jan. 13).
The West is experiencing extraordinary and historic turmoil
surrounding water resources and drought, despite recent storms
that plumped up much-needed snowpack in the mountains. At the
Foundation, we are gearing up this year to focus even more on
the Colorado River Basin, the West’s iconic river that supplies
40 million people from Denver to Los Angeles and irrigates more
than 4 million acres of crops.
At Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir, record
low water levels are transforming the landscape, renewing a
longstanding dispute over the land the reservoir drowned — a
canyon labyrinth that novelist Edward Abbey once described as
“a portion of earth’s original paradise.” For half a century,
environmental groups and Colorado River enthusiasts have
implored water managers to restore Glen Canyon by draining the
reservoir.
The Central Arizona Project’s governing board took the first
steps Thursday toward approving Arizona’s share of a plan to
save a half-million acre-feet a year of Colorado River water in
order to prop up ailing Lake Mead. The plan, adopted
unanimously by the board, calls for Arizona users of the river
water — mostly those on CAP supplies — to shoulder more than
40% of that total, or 223,000 acre-feet in 2022. The cuts are
all supposed to be voluntary and temporary, and to be
compensated by either state or federal money, totalling $100
million a year for the entire conservation program.
When officials from California, Arizona and Nevada signed a
deal this month to take less water from the shrinking Colorado
River, a large portion of the water savings came through
agreements with two Native tribes. Indigenous leaders have also
been invited by the Biden administration to play a key role in
future negotiations on coping with shortages. The rising
involvement of tribes in discussions about managing the West’s
scarce water supplies marks a dramatic turn in a century-long
history of being left on the sidelines.
More than two decades of dry winters and drying Colorado River
reservoirs will finally produce a long-feared landscape of
drier farms in central Arizona starting this month. Desert
farmers, especially the 900 or more in Pinal County, start the
new year with massively reduced allocations from the canal that
delivers water hundreds of miles from the river. Their
irrigation districts are using state money to drill new wells
to replace some of the losses with groundwater, another
resource that’s at a premium in the fast-growing region.
Last week, at Caesars Palace, a luxurious hotel on the Las
Vegas Strip, nearly a thousand water managers, scientists, and
government officials convened at the annual Colorado River
Water Users Association conference to discuss the future of the
imperiled watershed. The tone was one of urgency: The
Colorado River, which spans seven states, 30 tribal nations and
two countries, is carrying much less water than it used to. At
the same time, a lot more people are vying for what’s left.
The Colorado River is drying up — and it’s fair to say Phoenix,
Arizona, would be drastically different without it. To reach
residents in the city, water goes through a 190-mile journey
through a system of canals. But decades of drought, low
snowpack in the mountains and overuse have put tremendous
pressure on the reservoirs that supply water to 40 million
people in the Southwest.
Sobering. Troubling. The new abnormal. Crazy bad. These were
the words used to describe conditions on the Colorado River at
the largest annual gathering of water managers and experts in
Las Vegas this week. … Water scarcity — and a sense of
urgency to address it — has underscored this year’s Colorado
River Water Users Association conference. In 2000, the storage
system was nearly full, but over the past two decades, the
river’s two largest buckets, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, have
fallen to just one-third of their capacity.
With rising temperatures and two decades of drought depleting
the Colorado River, some Southwestern states are spending
hundreds of millions of dollars to pay homeowners to tear out
their lawns and farmers to fallow their fields. But Utah, the
fastest-growing and second-driest state in the nation, is
pursuing a different strategy. Steered by the state’s
largest water districts, with the help of their legislative
allies, Utah has prioritized the pursuit of new pipelines over
large-scale conservation programs.
The Western megadrought is revealing a famed desert landscape
long drowned by a controversial dam. It’s raising questions
about the future of this oasis, and water in the American
West. Parts of the West got much-needed rain and snow this
week, but it comes as the region experiences one of its driest
periods in a thousand years. The drought, amplified by climate
change, is renewing debates about how to manage water in the
arid West. NPR’s Nathan Rott takes a look at one debate playing
out on the Utah-Arizona border over what some see as America’s
lost national park.
As the year comes to a close and the holidays approach, don’t
forget to get your deal on our water book. Right around the
corner is our Lower Colorado River Tour in March; get the
details below to save the date. And don’t miss your chance next
Tuesday to learn more about applying for our inaugural
2022 Colorado River Water Leaders program.
Want to understand water speculation in Colorado? Let’s
say you’re in line at a pizza shop. Hear us out. There’s
a big sign at the pizza counter saying, “Limited quantities due
to climate change. Buy only what you can eat.” But the
guy in front of you buys five pizzas for $20 each. He starts
reselling them by the slice for $5 a piece. The store owner
says, “You can’t do that here.” The pizza glutton walks
away, saying, “Fine. I’ll put them in the freezer and I’ll eat
it all later.” … [S]peculation on water purely for
profit is supposed to be illegal already in Colorado. But under
current law, there’s no way of telling what’s in the water
buyer’s heart.
November brought unusually warm temperatures in Las Vegas and
elsewhere in the Mountain West, which made for some lovely fall
days. But not for our water supply. Those warm temperatures
that made for shirt-sleeve conditions in Las Vegas and much of
the Southwest were murder on the snowpack that feeds the
region’s rivers. In an example of how climate change is
threatening the viability of the West, the region emerged from
November with lower-than-average snowpack in every one of its
river basins, particularly in the Southwest.
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 talked with Western
Water news about how her experience on the Colorado River
will play into her new job, the impacts from the drought and
how the river’s history of innovation should help.
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.
