What Might Cuts to Dwindling Colorado River Mean for States?
The Biden administration floated two ideas this week to reduce water usage from the dwindling Colorado River, which supplies 40 million people.
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Interior Offers Extremes on Colorado River Cuts to Spur Compromise
The Interior Department on Tuesday shared its proposal for expected cuts to Colorado River water allocations but acknowledged that the most extreme options — including a plan that would slash water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada — are unlikely to be included in a final decision this summer.
Instead, agency officials presented their emergency plan — which includes contrasting proposals that would either force California to forfeit a significant portion of its flows or concentrate the pain of cuts on Arizona and Nevada — as a set of “bookends” to motivate state officials to collaborate.
“I would not think about either of these three alternatives as something we’re asking people to choose, but rather, they’re models and alternatives and ways of defining the problem,” said Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau, referring to an update of the 2007 Colorado River Interim Guidelines.
U.S. Presents Proposals for Major Water Cuts on Colorado River
The federal government on Tuesday laid out two options for preventing the Colorado River’s depleted reservoirs from falling to critically low levels, saying it could either impose cuts across the Southwest by following the water-rights priority system or by using an across-the-board percentage.
Water Authority Supports Talks on Fed Draft Colorado River Proposal
The San Diego County Water Authority supports a consensus-based approach for long-term solutions to water supply issues in the Colorado River Basin. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on April 11 released a draft environmental document that considers changes to near-term operations on the Colorado River, including potential reductions in water supplies for California and across the Lower Colorado River Basin.
Colorado River Proposal
Reclamation’s draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) analyzes two alternatives, plus a no-action alternative, to protect critical elevations at Lakes Mead and Powell, the two reservoirs California depends on for its river supplies. Both reservoirs have declined due to unprecedented low levels from more than two decades of drought.
The release of the draft SEIS, which would modify the set of operating guidelines that manage river operations through 2026, comes even as heavy snows this winter signal some relief on the river.
Collaboration and consensus-based approach
“While this winter’s storms delivered an incredible snowpack, the release of the draft SEIS highlights that we need to continue to work with all Basin states, the tribes and Mexico toward a consensus-based approach that provides real and lasting solutions for all water users,” said Dan Denham, deputy general manager for the San Diego County Water Authority.
To address potential for low run-off/unprecedented water shortages in #CORiver Basin, @usbr today released a draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to potentially revise current interim operating guidelines for near-term op.s of Glen Canyon & Hoover Dams. pic.twitter.com/XnjnjJe7BU
— Bureau of Reclamation (@usbr) April 11, 2023
The first of the two action alternatives in the draft SEIS acknowledges the priority system for water rights under existing agreements and laws. The San Diego region’s river supplies are largely protected from reductions because they are tied to California’s senior rights within the Lower Colorado River Basin as well as the Imperial Irrigation District’s (IID) high priority rights through the Water Authority’s conserved water transfer agreement with IID.
The second alternative calls for Reclamation to analyze the effects of reductions “distributed in the same percentage” for all water users in the Lower Basin states – California, Arizona and Nevada – despite there being no precedent or foundation for this approach under existing laws. It would mean across-the-board reductions for all water users in the region, including those with senior water rights.
Reclamation has stated it is expecting input from states, tribes and water agencies to fine-tune and adjust these alternatives. Discussions are ongoing between stakeholders.
NEWS RELEASE 4-11-2023: Imperial Irrigation District General Manager Henry Martinez issued a statement on the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) released today by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. https://t.co/FO0bFx7Ubj pic.twitter.com/VLLzQnOHaS
— IID (@IIDatWork) April 11, 2023
Colorado River Board of California
“The Water Authority will continue to work in collaboration with our partners on the Colorado River Board of California to ensure California’s high priority water rights on the river are upheld through this SEIS process while we also work with all river stakeholders to develop long-term, durable solutions for the river,” Denham said.
The draft SEIS will be available for public comment for 45 calendar days and the final SEIS is anticipated to be available with a Record of Decision in Summer 2023, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. Comments on the draft SEIS are due May 30. This document will inform the August 2023 decisions that will affect 2024 operations for Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams.
The proposal to address immediate water supply challenges complements Reclamation’s ongoing process to develop new guidelines for Colorado River Operations when the current interim guidelines expire at the end of 2026.
California’s Water Battles Continue Despite Record Rain and Snow
On Monday, California water officials slogged through deep snow 7,000 feet above sea level, west of Lake Tahoe, to affirm what everyone already knew: A series of Pacific storms has generated record-level amounts of precipitation, filling reservoirs, inundating low-lying towns and fields and threatening more disastrous flooding as the Sierra snowpack melts.
7 Charts That Explain California’s Wild Winter of 2023
If there ever was a winter to check off squares on your Wild Weather Bingo card, 2023 was it.
More than 30 atmospheric river storms. 97 mph wind gusts. Destructive tidal surges. Bomb cyclones. Flash floods. Levee breaks. The Fujiwhara Effect. Snow piled more than 240 inches deep at Mammoth Pass. One of the rainiest days on record in San Francisco.
Opinion: Catastrophic Floods and Breached Levees Reveal a Problem California Too Often Neglects
For much of the past decade, Californians have been fixated on drought, and rightly so. But the flipside of the state’s volatile climate returned this year, reminding us that “normal” in a land of extremes can be either very wet or very dry.
A dozen or more atmospheric rivers have caused more than $5 billion in damage in the state, with more damage expected when the Sierra Nevada snowpack melts in the coming weeks.
Snowpack Peaks at 160% of Normal as Colorado River Water Flows Toward Lake Mead
It’s snowing today in the central Colorado Rockies, likely the last hurrah for a year to remember for everyone who depends on water from the Colorado River — including Las Vegas.
It’s just past the early April peak when scientists calculate the final snowpack levels for the year. Today, that measurement hit 160% of normal, just above where it was a week ago.
Pismo Beach Enters Desal Study, Focus Still on Central Coast Blue
Pismo Beach joined a local desalination feasibility study, completing the San Luis Obispo County-wide bandwagon to identify long-term water supply sources.
The last to participate, the Pismo Beach City Council agreed on April 4 to support county efforts in the face of exiting two historic droughts and an uncharacteristically wet winter season, the flood control and water conservation district naming water resiliency as a high priority, and the Central Coast Blue project nearing realization.
Soggy California Winter Set to Charge Up State’s Hydropower Sector
California’s unusually stormy winter is promising good news for the state’s struggling hydropower industry.
After three years of extreme drought, winter weather has driven up the most populous U.S. state’s snow levels to 235% of normal, according to the latest figures from the California Department of Water Resources. That’s likely to fill up hydro reservoirs during the spring melt, which could lead to more of the cheap renewable energy source and less dependence on fossil fuels, public agencies and utilities said.
