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What Is Happening With The Colorado River Drought Plans?

/in , /by /KUNC (Greeley, Colo.)by Luke Runyon & Bret Jaspers

States that rely on the Colorado River for their water supplies are currently unable to finish a series of agreements that would keep its biggest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, from dropping to levels not seen since they were filled decades ago. Five states — Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nevada — are done. The country of Mexico has also completed its portion. But California and Arizona failed to meet a Jan. 31 federal government deadline to wrap up negotiations and sign a final agreement.

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Dry And Getting Drier: Southwestern Water Scarcity The New Norm, Climate Study Says

/in , /by /KUNC (Greeley, Colo.)by Luke Runyon

The effects of climate change are not far off problems for future generations. They are existential problems for everyone alive today. That’s one big takeaway from the U.S. federal government’s latest roundup of climate science, the National Climate Assessment, now in its fourth iteration. Released the day after Thanksgiving, the newest report is unequivocal. In heavily footnoted, short declarative sentences it urgently tells readers that climate change is happening, it’s human-caused, and it could make life in the Western U.S. increasingly difficult.

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Colorado River Water Managers Can Imagine The Future And It Doesn’t Look Pretty

/in , /by /KUNC (Greeley, Colo.)by Luke Runyon

Fear can be a powerful motivator. The mention of one plausible future scenario along the Colorado River is enough to make some water managers in the West break into a sweat. It’s called the Compact Call, and even though it’s never happened — and is years away from ever happening — its invocation conjures up dystopian imagery of a southwest battling over scarce water supplies.

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