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Feds Suspend Measures That Were Meant to Boost Water Levels at Drought-Stricken Lake Powell

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Starting Tuesday, the US Bureau of Reclamation will suspend extra water releases from Utah’s Flaming Gorge reservoir — emergency measures that had served to help stabilize the plummeting water levels downstream at Lake Powell, the nation’s second largest reservoir.

Federal officials began releasing extra water from Flaming Gorge in 2021 to boost Lake Powell’s level and buy its surrounding communities more time to plan for the likelihood the reservoir will eventually drop too low for the Glen Canyon Dam to generate hydropower.

In Dry West, Farmers Balk at Idling Land to Save Water

/in , /by /AP Newsby Suman Naishadham

Tom Brundy, an alfalfa grower in California’s Imperial Valley, thinks farmers reliant on the shrinking Colorado River can do more to save water and use it more efficiently. That’s why he’s installed water sensors and monitors to prevent waste on nearly two-thirds of his 3,000 acres.

But one practice that’s off-limits for Brundy is fallowing — leaving fields unplanted to spare the water that would otherwise irrigate crops. It would save plenty of water, Brundy said, but threatens both farmers and rural communities economically.

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Colorado Conflicted About Cutting Its Water Use

/in , /by /Lake Powell Chronicleby Dave Marston

Not everyone is a fan, including Andy Mueller, director of the Colorado River District. He doesn’t like programs that pay farmers to stop farming. Mueller also didn’t ask for the Inflation Reduction Act’s $125 million to pay the farmers he represents. Mueller’s organization exists to keep Western Colorado’s rural water away from growing cities across the Rockies.

State Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Avon, who chairs the Committee for Agriculture and Natural Resources, has a more nuanced view.

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Salton Sea Lithium Deposits Could Help Ev Transition, Support Economically Devastated Area

/in , /by /PBSby Stephanie Sy and Lena I. Jackson

The demand for electric vehicles is surging in the U.S., sparked in part by the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and the subsidies it offers. But a looming supply shortage of lithium threatens to stall the EV transition.

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Feds are Putting a Price Tag on Water in the Colorado River Basin to Spur Farmers to Conserve

/in , , /by /KUNCby Alex Hager

The federal government is designating $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act for drought mitigation work in the Colorado River basin.

On Wednesday, the Department of the Interior announced that total, indicating that $500 million will go to efficiency upgrades in the river’s Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming. Another chunk of IRA money will be set aside for direct payments to farmers and ranchers to forgo water deliveries from Lake Mead in the river’s Lower Basin, primarily in Arizona and California. Federal officials are not specifying how much money will be available for that first round of payments.

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In Washington, Colorado Lawmakers Seek Long-Term Solutions for the Drying West

/in , , /by /CPR Newsby Caitlyn Kim

Some members of Congress from Colorado and New Mexico are encouraging the Bureau of Reclamation to use new funding to find long-term solutions to the Western drought, and particularly the dwindling and overextended Colorado River.

In a letter to Camille Touton, commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, the lawmakers shared their priorities for how the $4 billion in drought money from the Inflation Reduction Act should be used.

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Water Negotiations Continue for Southern California Water Districts Amid Drought

/in , , /by /NBC Palm Springsby Carmela Karcher

The drought continues to grip the west with no signs of letting up.

One of the hardest hit places is the Colorado River, which serves about 40 million people, including right here in the Coachella Valley.

But action is being taken.

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Sinema Meets With Regional Water Officials to Talk About $4B in Colorado River Drought Aid

/in , , /by /AZ Centralby Zayna Syed

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema introduced a new water advisory council at Hoover Dam on Monday to discuss how to spend $4 billion in water and drought aid included in the Inflation Reduction Act.

The $4 billion is meant to stave off the worst effects of drought across the Colorado River system, which is suffering from overuse and two decades of drought exacerbated by climate change.

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As West Burns, House Passes Major Drought and Wildfire Resilience Package

/in , /by /Gristby Emily Pontecorvo

The Western U.S. saw wildfire season kick into high gear last week. As firefighting crews made progress toward containing a blaze in Yosemite National Park in California, another fire erupted near the Oregon border and quickly became the largest California wildfire of the year. Flames also tore through tens of thousands of acres in northern Montana and eastern Idaho.

On the other side of the country, in swampy but fire-free Washington, D.C., Democratic lawmakers were feeling the heat.

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