Colorado River Archives

Environment Report: Why Your Water Bill Might Spike

July 28, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority
Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

San Diego’s water utility is preparing to absorb a five percent spike in rates this year despite cries from elected officials to freeze costs during a global pandemic.

Why? The blame often gets passed up the proverbial pipeline.

About three-quarters of San Diego’s drinking water comes from the Colorado River via pipes and aqueducts controlled by the Metropolitan Water District, based in Los Angeles. Since it controls much of the lifeline, it’s often blamed for an increase in rates and that’s partially what happened this year.

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Opinion: Nevada Should Challenge Utah’s Move for a Lake Powell Pipeline

July 21, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The Nevada Independent by Richard Spotts

In politics, what goes around can and sometimes should come around. A case in point is the Desert National Wildlife Refuge and Lake Powell Pipeline.

Utah’s infamous Rep. Rob Bishop, known for his abysmally bad voting record on public lands and environmental issues, recently pulled off a “sneak attack” on Nevada in the House Armed Services Committee. On July 1st, reportedly without consulting with any Nevada officials, he put forward an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act legislation to give the Air Force primary control over approximately 850,000 acres of the DNWR.

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Sacred Arizona Spring Drying Up as Border Wall Construction Continues

July 21, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /National Geographicby Douglas Main

Midway down a cactus-covered hill in one of the driest parts of Arizona is a miracle: a spring. Water continually streams out of the ground, down a small channel, and into a pond.

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IID Retains Control Over Colorado River Water In Legal Tussle With Farmer Michael Abatti

July 20, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Mark Olalde

The Imperial Irrigation District and farmer Michael Abatti have been locked in a years-long legal battle with as many twists as the river over which it has been fought. The saga might finally come to an end, though, after a California appellate court handed down a ruling on Thursday that found IID is the rightful manager of the portion of the Colorado River guaranteed to the Imperial Valley.

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Long Criticized for Inaction at Salton Sea, California says it’s All-In on Effort to Preserve State’s Largest Lake

July 17, 2020/in Home Headline, Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Western Water (Water Education Foundation)by Gary Pitzer

The Salton Sea in California’s far southeast corner has challenged policymakers and local agencies alike to save the desert lake – a vital stop for migrating birds – from becoming a fetid, hyper-saline water body inhospitable to wildlife and a source of choking dust. The state of California, long derided for its failure to act in the past, says it is now moving full-bore to address the sea’s problems, with ambitious plans for wildlife habitat and dust suppression. Skeptics say addressing the sea’s issues is vital not only for the sea and surrounding communities, but for management of the Colorado River as well.

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Utah Pipeline Likely Won’t Affect Lake Mead

July 16, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Boulder City Reviewby Celia Shortt Goodyear

A proposed pipeline in Utah could divert approximately 86,000 acre feet of water annually from Lake Mead, but it will most likely not harm the overall water level in the reservoir.

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We Now Know How Many Billions of Gallons of Water Colorado Will Save by Closing Coal-Fired Power Plants

July 16, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The Colorado Sunby Mark Jaffe

By 2031 water use for coal-fired power plants in Colorado will drop to 3.7 billion gallons – a 68% reduction, according to the Energy and Policy Institute.

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Imperial Irrigation District Seeks Salton Sea Consideration In Lawsuit Over Colorado River Water

July 15, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Desert Sun (Palm Springs)by Mark Olalde

The Imperial Irrigation District has filed its opening brief in a case against the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California that it launched last year in an attempt to halt the implementation of the Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan for the Colorado River. IID wants to see it paused until the Salton Sea is also considered.

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Reclamation’s Burman Urges Cooperation On Water

July 15, 2020/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /Western Farm Pressby Tim Hearden

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman says she’d like to see more cooperation from California officials as talks aim to resolve a legal dispute over competing biological opinions governing the management of their respective water projects.

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In Parched Southwest, Warm Spring Renews Threat of ‘Megadrought’

July 9, 2020/in California and the U.S., Home Headline, Media Coverage /by Kimberlyn Velasquez /The New York Timesby Henry Fountain

Here at 12,000 feet on the Continental Divide, only vestiges of the winter snowpack remain, scattered white patches that have yet to melt and feed the upper Colorado River, 50 miles away.

That’s normal for mid-June in the Rockies. What’s unusual this year is the speed at which the snow went. And with it went hopes for a drought-free year in the Southwest.

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