A team led by University of Oregon geologist Rebecca Dorsey has published two papers that provide new insights into the origins of the Colorado River, using data from ancient sedimentary deposits located east of the San Andreas fault near the Salton Sea in Southern California.
A highly effective but problematic Colorado River desalination project in western Montrose County’s Paradox Valley could come to an end due to the federal Bureau of Reclamation’s difficulty finding an acceptable means of continuing it. The agency on Friday released a final environmental impact statement that included analysis of three new approaches for removing salty groundwater from the valley to keep it from eventually reaching the Dolores River and ultimately the Colorado River.
Farmer Michael Abatti v. Imperial Irrigation District is a landmark decision by the California Court of Appeals concerning the millions of acre-feet of Colorado River water used annually to meet the needs of Southern California’s agricultural empire.
Imagine that you had a bunch of Colorado River water.
Water with some of the most senior rights in the state. The river would have to be virtually dry before your supply was cut.
Now imagine that by fallowing some land and installing more efficient irrigation, you think you can free up a decent chunk of this highly coveted water to lease to others who are in desperate need of more renewable supplies.
Paul Bruchez’s family has ranched cattle in Colorado for five generations. And twice in his lifetime, his generation has nearly become the last. The first time, it was the city of Denver that squeezed them out. By the 1990s, when Bruchez was still in high school, the city’s fast-growing suburbs had swept north and totally surrounded their roughly 2,000 acres in Westminster.
The Water Resilience Portfolio directs the Water Commission to assess the state’s role in financing conveyance projects that could help meet the needs in changing climate, a task that the Commission has taken on wholeheartedly in recent months.
At their November meeting, the Commission heard from two panels: the first panel was from project proponents who discussed conveyance projects being proposed by their organizations.
Water conservation isn’t cheap. But it’s not as pricey as 300-mile pipelines and water grabs.
The SNWA also approved a rate increase that will likely result in about a $10 hike in residential water bills by 2026 in order to pay for current and future projects.
The ancient people of Danger Cave lived well. They ate freshwater fish, ducks and other small game, according to detritus they left behind. They had a lush lakeside view, with cattails, bulrush and water-loving willows adorning the marshlands.
But then, the good life became history. As heat and drought set in, the freshwater dried up and forced the ancients to survive by plucking tiny seeds from desert shrubs called pickleweed. Archaeologists know this from a thick layer of dusty chaff buried in the cave’s floor.
The Colorado River Indian Tribes on the western edge of Arizona have the largest share of first-priority Colorado River water rights in the state. Now, the tribal council is proposing to lease some of its water for non-tribal use. Colorado River Indian Tribes chairman Dennis Patch thinks tribal water can be a valuable tool in Arizona drought mitigation.
Changes are coming to the powerful Imperial Irrigation District.
The dust is still settling on the 2020 election, with some votes still to be counted, but after one incumbent on the board of directors fell in the primary, a second is losing in the general. The board likely will see two new directors seated, reshaping the direction of an agency that delivers both water and electricity to a wide swathe of Southern California.
