Snow is forecast every day this week in the heart of the Colorado Rockies, and snowpack levels have climbed to nearly 150% as warmer spring temperatures near.
It could be the winter we remember as one of the bright spots in a drought that defined the past two decades in the Colorado River Basin.
The San Diego County Water Authority will host water leaders from throughout Southern California March 15 for the monthly meeting of the Colorado River Board of California. On March 14, before the formal meeting, CRB board members will tour projects in the region that promote water resiliency.
The CRB will consider the complex water supply issues facing the Southwest U.S. during its meeting. San Diego Congressman Scott Peters is also scheduled to address the CRB.
The tour is part of a new program implemented by CRB, under the leadership of Chair JB Hamby, Imperial Irrigation District’s representative, and Vice Chair Jim Madaffer, the Water Authority’s representative and Water Authority board member, to build greater awareness of each CRB member agency’s efforts to serve their region and manage their river supplies.
“The Colorado River Board is so important to ensuring California’s voice is heard on the river, especially during these difficult times as we work to find collaborative solutions to the river’s challenges now and into the future,” Madaffer said. “We look forward to showcasing the local supply projects, online now and planned, that create water resiliency locally, but that also reduce the demand on the river.”
The @sdcwa hosted #CRBTour highlighted two water supply projects: the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant and the East County Advanced Water Purification Plant (scheduled to be online in 2026.) https://t.co/tq7LCx0hKB #cawater #collaboration pic.twitter.com/ljYfQ0rYfb
— San Diego County Water Authority (@sdcwa) March 14, 2023
Established in 1937, the CRB is a state agency tasked with protecting the interests and rights of the state and its agencies in water and power resources from the Colorado River.
The Water Authority is a member of the CRB along with IID, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the Coachella Valley Water District, the Palo Verde Irrigation District, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the California Department of Water Resources, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. CRB representatives, including two additional members from the public, are appointed by the Governor.
The facility tour and meeting is a new CRB program under the leadership of Chair JB Hamby, Imperial Irrigation District’s representative, and Vice Chair Jim Madaffer (L), the Water Authority’s representative and Water Authority board member. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
The CRB represents California in discussions and negotiations with the Basin states, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, governmental agencies at all levels, tribes, and Mexico regarding the management of the river.
CRB members on the tour will see two local water supply projects generating water now – the Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant – and planned – the East County Advanced Water Purification Plant.
The seawater desalination plant, the largest in the nation, came online in 2015 and recently passed the milestone of producing more than one-billion gallons of water for the San Diego region.
The San Diego County Water Authority added desalinated seawater to its supply portfolio in 2015 with the start of commercial operations at the nation’s largest seawater desalination plant. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
“The desalination plant is not only important to our region, but the Water Authority believes the plant could be part of an overall long-term solution to support Lake Mead, California’s critical river reservoir, under a proposal we are considering to expand the plant,” said Madaffer.
Now under construction, the East County Advanced Water Purification facility, or East County AWP, is a collaborative partnership between two Water Authority member agencies, the Padre Dam Municipal Water District and the Helix Water District, and the County of San Diego and City of El Cajon.
The plant is projected to generate a local, reliable and drought-proof drinking water supply utilizing state-of-the-art technology to recycle and reuse the region’s wastewater. The East County AWP is expected to produce 30% of East San Diego County’s water supply by early 2026, and is one of the innovative water purification facilities in the county either in operation or in development.
Scheduled to be operating in 2026, the East County AWP is projected to generate up to 11.5 million gallons per day of purified water— meeting approximately 30% of current drinking water demands for East San Diego County residents and businesses. Photo: San Diego County Water Authority
Following the facility tours on March 14, the CRB will hold its monthly meeting March 15 at the Water Authority’s Kearny Mesa headquarters in San Diego. The meeting is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. and is open to the public.
The @sdcwa is pleased to welcome water leaders from Southern California today for the monthly meeting of the Colorado River Board of California.
(Photo L-to-R: @bartfisher president, Palo Verde Irrigation District, @RepScottPeters and CRB Vice Chair @JimMadaffer) #CRBMeeting pic.twitter.com/u6yW1mNySt
— San Diego County Water Authority (@sdcwa) March 15, 2023
(Editor’s note: The Helix Water District and Padre Dam Municipal Water District, are two of the San Diego County Water Authority’s 24 member agencies that deliver water across the San Diego County region.)
Recent data show a snowy start to 2023 for the Colorado River basin, with heavy winter precipitation in the Rocky Mountains projected to boost spring spring runoff into Lake Powell to 117% of an average year’s flows.
But scientists say that while this winter’s snow may provide a temporary boost to major reservoirs, it will not provide enough water to fix the Southwest’s long-term supply-demand imbalance, as the beleaguered river continues to grapple with climate change and steady demand.
Getting states to agree to use less water is hard. Doing so in a matter of months is near impossible.
The last time the Colorado River Basin agreed to a set of reductions to address drought conditions and dropping levels at Lake Mead was in 2019. Those reductions took five years to iron out and amounted to a fraction of what the federal government now says needs to be cut in order to keep the system from crashing.
Push is coming to shove on the West’s most important river.
The seven states that share water from the Colorado River are as close to open conflict over dwindling supplies as they’ve ever been. Six of them ganged up on California last week, arguing that it should bear the brunt of supply cuts because a greater share of the water evaporates before it gets that far downriver.
California is bristling at the proposal. “We didn’t just learn last year that water evaporates,” said J.B. Hamby, the chair of the Colorado River Board of California.
Another top California water official, Jim Madaffer, vice chair of the Colorado River Board of California, who represents the San Diego County Water Authority, said California has a blueprint for other states — a multi-agency, multi-year process that California used to rein in its water use two decades ago.
“California has done its part and is willing to do more, but it’s time for the other states to step up,” Madaffer said in an email.
New data show a snowy start to 2023 for the Colorado River basin. Inflows into Lake Powell, the nation’s second largest reservoir, are currently projected to be 117% of average during spring runoff thanks to heavy winter precipitation in the Rocky Mountains.
The beleaguered river is shrinking due to climate change and steady demand. Scientists say this winter’s snow may provide a temporary boost to major reservoirs, but will not provide enough water to fix the Southwest’s supply-demand imbalance.
The decades-old agreements that outline water rights to the Colorado River Basin are leading to an impasse on an issue affecting millions of people in the American Southwest.
On Jan. 31, the seven states that draw water from the basin had to come up with a plan to voluntarily cut back on using water from the basin. Six states — Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — agreed on one proposal. But California, which is the state the uses the most water, rejected that plan and submitted its own.
The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is the deepest it’s been in decades, but those storms that were a boon for Northern California won’t make much of a dent in the long-term water shortage for the Colorado River Basin — an essential source of supplies for Southern California.
In fact, the recent storms haven’t changed a view shared by many Southern California water managers: Don’t expect lakes Mead and Powell, the nation’s largest reservoirs, to fill up again anytime soon.
The lower Colorado River has been out of balance for about 40 years, using more water than has been available. As their reservoirs empty, the three lower basin states, federal government, and water users are getting around to addressing this problem.
When the Colorado River reaches the U.S.-Mexico border, it pushes up against Morelos Dam. Nearly all the remaining water is shunted aside into an immense canal and flows toward the farmlands and cities of Baja California.
South of the dam, the last of the river disappears in the desert.
