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California Emerges as Big Winner in Colorado River Water Deal

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith, Ian James

Monday’s historic Colorado River agreement represents a big win for California, which only months ago was embroiled in a bitter feud with Arizona, Nevada and four other Western states over how to dramatically reduce their use of water supplies in the shrinking river. The proposition, which came after months of tense negotiations, would see the three states in the Colorado’s lower basin conserve about 3 million acre-feet of water from the river by 2026 — a 14% reduction across the Southwest that amounts to only about half of what could have been imposed by the federal government had the states not come to an accord.

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Snowmelt is Swelling Colorado’s Rivers, but Much More Snow is Still Waiting in the High Country

/in , , /by /Colorado Sunby Shannon Mullane

Floods, swollen rivers, road closures — Colorado’s spring runoff season is in full swing and much of the snow in the state’s mountains hasn’t melted yet. Colorado saw higher-than-average snowfall build up on the Western Slope this year, a boon for irrigators and other water users who rely on the Colorado River Basin which spans Colorado, tribal lands, six Western states and parts of Mexico. But the snowmelt, with the help of recent weather, is leading to high runoff and its adverse impacts are popping up around the state like a game of whack-a-mole.

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Opinion: Colorado River Water Deal Gives California Another Reprieve. For Now

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby LA Times Editorial Board

The Colorado River deal announced Monday is more of a temporary reprieve than a solution to plummeting water supplies. The deep water cuts for California, Arizona and Nevada will tide over thirsty residents and farmers only until the end of 2026. The real reckoning comes when operating agreements expire for Lake Mead, which feeds the Colorado’s water to Southern California and the two other lower-basin states, and Lake Powell, which regulates the flow into Lake Mead while serving Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.

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Colorado River Deal: What Does It Mean for California?

/in , /by /CalMattersby Alastair Bland

After nearly a year of intense negotiations, California, Nevada and Arizona reached a historic agreement today to use less water from the overdrafted Colorado River over the next three years. The states agreed to give up 3 million acre-feet of river water through 2026 — about 13% of the amount they receive. In exchange, farmers and other water users will receive compensation from the federal government.

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Opinion: California Taxpayers on the Hook to Save Two Unhealthy Western Rivers

/in , /by /CalMattersby Dan Walters

The Klamath River begins in Oregon, draining the eastern slope of the Cascade Mountains, and slices through the northwestern corner of California before flowing into the Pacific Ocean. The Colorado River begins in Colorado, draining the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, before meandering southwesterly and emptying into Mexico’s Sea of Cortez – if there’s any water left after California and other states have tapped the river for irrigation and municipal supplies.

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Colorado River Basin States Reach Historic Deal on Water Cutbacks to Stave Off Crisis

/in , , /by /Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

A deal has been reached to conserve at least 3 million acre-feet of water in the Colorado River through 2026, the Department of the Interior announced on Monday. More than half of that would be saved by the end of 2024.

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El Niño is Likely Returning, Bringing Danger for California and the World. ‘We Need to Be Prepared’

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Hayley Smith

It’s Earth’s original disrupter — a recurring climate pattern so powerful that it can drive global average temperature to record highs, and generate both cliff-crumbling storms and crop-destroying droughts across the planet.

Now, after a long hiatus, El Niño is showing signs of a strong return in 2023.

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Earlier Snowpack Melt in the West Could Bring Summer Water Scarcity

/in , , /by /Phys.Orgby University of Colorado at Boulder

Snow is melting earlier, and more rain is falling instead of snow in the mountain ranges of the Western U.S. and Canada, leading to a leaner snowpack that could impact agriculture, wildfire risk and municipal water supplies come summer, according to a new study from the University of Colorado Boulder.

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Whiplash Again! – Learning from Wet (and Dry) Years

/in , , /by /California WaterBlog by Jay Lund, Deirdre Des Jardins, Kathy Schaefer

“Old superlatives have been dusted off and new ones count to better describe the tragedy, damage, and trauma associated with the State’s latest ‘unusual’ weather experience.” DWR Bulletin 69-83, California High Water 1982-83, p.1

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Incredible Shrinking Lakes: Humans, Climate Change, Diversion Costs Trillions of Gallons Annually

/in , , /by /APby Seth Borenstein

Climate change’s hotter temperatures and society’s diversion of water have been shrinking the world’s lakes by trillions of gallons of water a year since the early 1990s, a new study finds.

A close examination of nearly 2,000 of the world’s largest lakes found they are losing about 5.7 trillion gallons (21.5 trillion liters) a year. That means from 1992 to 2020, the world lost the equivalent of 17 Lake Meads, America’s largest reservoir, in Nevada. It’s also roughly equal to how much water the United States used in an entire year in 2015.

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