Historic snowfall across the Rocky Mountains is helping recharge some of the country’s biggest reservoirs and provide – briefly – some much-needed breathing room for the oversubscribed Colorado River.
Forecasts say the melting snow flowing into Lake Powell via the Colorado River and its tributaries could hit 177% of average this year, a major boost at a time when lake levels had hit historic lows.
The Big Melt is finally underway in the Sierra Nevada range, and soon there will be few wild places beyond the reach of water sounds: dripping, gurgling and roaring as runoff flows from lofty peaks to sage plains below.
But the whiplash change from extreme drought to epic snowpack is having very different consequences for a variety of species.
A drought emergency declaration in place over the past two years was lifted in the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. “Current conditions are not beyond the control of the services, personnel equipment and facilities of the county” after a stormy winter and spring helped replenish local water reserves, the resolution states.
After a winter and early spring that were characterized by remarkably cold conditions across the entirety of California, this week could not feel more different. Above-average temperatures have been the rule in most places, and this early season heatwave is expected to ramp up further over the next few days before peaking around Friday in most spots.
The West may be out of the woods in ensuring its water supply this year, but the water crisis is still very much alive, experts caution.
Last week, the California Department of Natural Resources announced that the state would receive 100% water allocation for the first time since 2006, meaning that communities and farmers under the State Water Project would receive all of its water requests for the year.
An extra pulse of water has been sent through the Grand Canyon this week. The Bureau of Reclamation is running a “high-flow experiment” at Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, which means a big release of water designed to move and redeposit sand and sediment will make its way downstream from the dam. This experiment is the first since 2018, and comes in response to forecasts for an above average spring snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains.
A railway project in Eastern Utah is drawing significant pushback in Colorado as elected officials voice concerns about crude oil risks to the Colorado River, which is the West’s primary freshwater river.
The Uinta Basin Railway project would build around 80 miles of train tracks connecting oil production to America’s rail network.
Satellite images taken over the past several weeks show a dramatic resurrection of Tulare Lake in California’s Central Valley and the flooding that could remain for as long as two years across previously arid farmland.
The satellite imagery, provided by the Earth imaging company Planet Labs, show the transition from a dry basin to a wide and deep lake running about ten miles from bank to bank on land used to grow almonds, tomatoes, cotton and other crops.
With Western water challenges in mind, Lorelei Cloud has a message for policymakers: There should be room for partnerships — not fear — when Native American tribes join the negotiating table.
In March, Cloud became one of the newest members of the state’s top water agency, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, when Gov. Jared Polis appointed her to represent the San Miguel-Dolores-San Juan drainage basin in southwestern Colorado. She’s also the first known tribal member to hold a seat on the board since its creation in 1937.
Lake Mead, in Arizona and Nevada, is the largest reservoir in the United States and part of the Colorado River system, which supplies water to seven U.S. states and part of Mexico, including one third of the water used in Southern California. It also supplies 30 Tribal Nations.
At the end of last year, experts predicted that, due to drought and heavy demand for water, Lake Mead was just two years shy of dead pool, when water levels drop below the point at which it can flow downstream of the reservoir.
