Tag Archive for: Colorado River

Breaking Boundaries: How Northern California Could Help Las Vegas During Drought

/in , , /by /The Nevada Independentby Jim Peifer

It might seem hard to imagine, but there’s a connection between water supplies in Northern California’s Sacramento region and distant cities such as Las Vegas. We may be separated by deserts and mountain ranges, but these very different places could actually share water. And with a little cooperation, all of us could survive the challenges of climate change, whether it’s a shrinking Colorado River or declining Sierra Nevada snowpack.

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Metropolitan Water District Forges Partnerships to Secure Colorado River Water in Lake Mead

/in , , /by /The Desert Reviewby Betty Miller Mentioned: San Diego County Water Authority

In a pivotal move addressing California’s water conservation goals and reinforcing partnerships in the face of the ongoing Colorado River drought, the Metropolitan Water District is seeking authorization for its General Manager to establish agreements with the Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, and San Diego County Water Authority. These agreements aim to facilitate the addition of water to Lake Mead under the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Lower Colorado River Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program for the year 2023.

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The Future of the Colorado River Hinges on One Young Negotiator

/in , , /by /ProPublicaby Mark Olalde and Janet Wilson

John Brooks Hamby was 9 years old the last time a group of Western states renegotiated how they share the dwindling Colorado River. When the high-stakes talks concluded two years later, in 2007, with a round of painful cuts, he hadn’t reached high school.

Yet this June an audience of water policy experts listened with rapt attention as Hamby, now 27, recited lessons from those deliberations.

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The 20 Farming Families Who Use More Water From the Colorado River Than Some Western States

/in , /by /ProPublicaby Nat Lash, ProPublica, and Janet Wilson, The Desert Sun

As the Colorado River snakes through the deserts of the Southwest United States, its water is diverted to cities, states, tribes and farmers along its course.

Agriculture has always been the largest use of the Colorado River, and California’s Imperial Irrigation District, established in 1911, has among the earliest claims and by far the largest claim to the river.
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The Historic Claims That Put a Few California Farming Families First in Line for Colorado River Water

/in , , /by /ProPublica by Janet Wilson, Nat Lash

Craig Elmore’s family history is the stuff of Westerns. His grandfather, John Elmore, a poor son of a Missouri preacher, arrived in California’s Imperial Valley in 1908 and dug ditches to deliver water to homesteaders.

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Feds Bet on Paying for Water Conservation to Protect the Colorado River

/in , , /by /Inside Climate News by Wyatt Myskow

Arizona’s future was at a critical juncture at the beginning of 2023.

Massive cuts to the state’s Colorado River water supply were being imposed. Deadlines loomed from the federal government for the seven states that rely on Colorado River water to come up with a solution for how to cut use even further as the nation’s two largest reservoirs recorded among their lowest levels ever after decades of drought caused by overconsumption and climate change.

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Winter Snow Could Help Recharge the Colorado River. But What if It Doesn’t?

/in , , /by /KUNCby Alex Hager

High in the mountains of Colorado, it’s a time of quiet.

The summer leaves have given way to bare branches, but the ski slopes haven’t yet filled with tourists—or snow. Soon, the flakes will begin to pile up, burying alpine valleys and recharging the Colorado River.

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Federal Government’s Short-term Colorado River Stabilization Plan Paints a “Rosy” Picture

/in , , /by /Colorado Sunby Shannon Mullane

Colorado scientist Brad Udall spent hours digging — with frustration — through the federal government’s 700-page proposal for managing key dams and reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin over the next three years.

“I just wish they would really simply say, ‘And here’s how the system would perform under these really bad years we’ve seen over the last 23 (years),’” said Udall, senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University. “If they would do that, you would see that this system crashes.”

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Snowpack at 114% After Weekend Storms Hit Rockies; Will We See a Repeat of Wet Winter?

/in , , /by /8 News Nowby Greg Haas

It’s still more than seven weeks before the official start of winter (Dec. 21), but weekend storms in Colorado’s high country are reason enough to look in on snowpack levels that will eventually provide the water that flows to Lake Mead.

A month into the 2023 “water year,” snowpack levels are slightly above normal in the Upper Colorado River Basin: 114% as of Nov. 1, according to data on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s website. The water year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 each year.

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Troubled Waters: Colorado River Crisis – Into the Wild West

/in , , /by /KESQby Angela Chen

In the sun-split desert of the Coachella Valley, life here is only possible with water from elsewhere. The water that grows our food, the water we drink and the water we exist around come from the special aquifers below the valley and the Colorado River.

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