Utah saw a snowy start to December, which is an encouraging sign for a state experiencing ongoing drought. But experts say it’s still early, and even if Utah has an above-average winter, it’ll take several strong years to make up for a multi-year water deficit.
Key questions resurfaced Thursday at a conference of Colorado River water administrators and users from seven U.S. states, Native American tribes and Mexico who are served by the shrinking river stricken by drought and climate change. Who will bear the brunt of more water supply cuts, and how quickly?
The annual conference of the Colorado River Water Users Association was founded and is held in Las Vegas, at Caesars Palace. This year, it sold out for the first time, but there’s no question why: the Colorado River is in trouble. The conference focuses on use of the river by the seven states, Mexico and tribes —all of whom take more water from the river than is refilled each year.
As Western water managers are gathering in Las Vegas this week, a long-sought deal to curtail water use along the cratering Colorado River still seems a ways off. Nearly six months have passed since Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton first asked the Western states to come up with a plan to cut back on water use from the river next year by as much as 30 percent, but a cohesive proposal from the seven states that pull from the Colorado that supplies water to some 40 million people has yet to emerge.
States in the Upper Colorado River Basin on Wednesday launched a $125 million program aimed at reducing reliance on the shirking waterway, although it remains to be seen how much water could actually be conserved. The Upper Colorado River Commission, which represents Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, released details on its Upper Basin System Conservation Pilot Program, which will pay users with rights to the river’s waters to temporarily forego their allocations.
Yuma County continues to fight for its water rights. Joining La Paz and Mohave counties in a lawsuit against the Bureau of Reclamation, uniting western Arizona. Earlier, the Yuma County Supervisors voted unanimously in November to combine resources. Joining a legal challenge over a transfer of 2,000 acre-feet of water from La Paz County to Queen Creek in central Arizona. The lawsuit’s overall goal is to prevent future transfers of Colorado River water to Queen Creek.
It seems like everything is going up in price these days, especially bills, and for residents in Fremont, Newark and Union City, water is no exception. Households in these areas could start paying 4% more for the commodity beginning next March, and another 4% on top of that in March 2024. The increases are being proposed by the Alameda County Water District, which will hold a public hearing on the rate hikes in February.
Technology has allowed scientists to observe water from space for the past several decades. A new satellite called Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) is scheduled to launch early Thursday morning, sending our ability to track and predict our planet’s water supply to new heights.
The Marin Municipal Water District board is considering raising rates for the first time since 2019 in response to sobering financial forecasts. District staff told the board Monday that unless the agency can find more revenue, the effects of inflation, drought and maintaining the water supply system could deplete reserve funds by mid-2024 and increase budget deficits as high as $45 million in the coming years.
December’s parade of winter storms left a mark on California’s snowpack, with some substantial gains in the Sierra Nevada and Southern Cascades’ snowfall totals tallied in past days. The state has already seen an active wet season that began in September, but even with recent deluges, data shows that much more precipitation is needed to actually get out of multiyear drought.
