Tag Archive for: Lake Mead

Opinion: Will Others Follow SNWA’s Lead on Conservation?

/in , /by /Las Vegas Sunby Kyle Roerink

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.

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Colorado River Runoff Plunges, Raising Shortage Concerns

/in , , /by /Tuscon.comby Tony Davis

Record and near-record low flows on the Upper Colorado River this summer and fall have dramatically and abruptly worsened the outlook for the entire river and the Central Arizona Project over the next two years. Low flows into Lake Powell led federal officials to sharply reduce their forecasts for how high Lake Mead will be next year. That has ratcheted up the odds that the first major shortage in CAP deliveries will occur in 2022, cutting off some supplies to Central Arizona farmers.

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Opinion: One More Warm, Dry Winter Could Spell Shortage for Lake Mead (and Trouble for Arizona)

/in , , /by /Arizona Republic by Joanna Allhands

This warm, dry weather we’ve been having may be good for moving activities outside.

But it’s bad news for our water supply.

The chances are growing – and quickly – that a warm, dry winter could push Lake Powell to a trigger point about a year from now that could result in significantly less water for Lake Mead, which supplies about 40% of Arizona’s water supply.

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Runners Race to Document Long-Hidden Rapids

/in , , /by /KUNCby Molly Marcello

Climate change and overuse are causing one of the Colorado River’s biggest reservoirs, Lake Powell, to drop. While water managers worry about scarcity issues, two Utah river rafters are documenting the changes that come as the massive reservoir hits historic low points.

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Milestone Colorado River Management Plan Mostly Worked Amid Epic Drought, Review Finds

/in , , /by /Western Water (Water Education Foundation)by Gary Pitzer

Twenty years ago, the Colorado River Basin’s hydrology turned persistently dry, reservoir levels plummeted and a river system relied upon by nearly 40 million people, farms and ecosystems across the West was in trouble. So key players across the Basin attacked the problem. The result was a set of Interim Guidelines adopted in 2007 that, according to a just-released assessment, mostly worked to prevent forced water supply cuts. With the guidelines expiring in 2026, that assessment is expected to aid discussions as key players begin writing a new set of river operating rules.

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Colorado River Users Expect Biden to Put Focus on Climate Change

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Tripp Baltz

The incoming Biden administration will lead efforts to craft a new water-management regime for the seven-state Colorado River Basin, and people involved in the process expect any changes to reflect the impact of climate change in the basin.

The Bureau of Reclamation, under the Interior Department, will lead negotiations to replace 13-year-old interim guidelines used to operate the basin’s two major reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The Interior secretary also manages the lower basin, containing all the water below Hoover Dam.

Revisions should reflect ecological values, water rights of American Indian tribes, and the need for more conservation measures by users in the seven states—Arizona, California and Nevada in the lower basin and Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the upper basin, those involved in the process said.

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Will the West Figure Out How to Share Water?

/in , , /by /Deseret Newsby Sofia Jeremias

In Crowley County, Colorado, sugar beets and alfalfa used to line the fields. It’s cantaloupes were famous.

But that all changed about three decades ago when most of the farmers sold their water rights to rapidly growing cities on the Front Range.

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River Managers Turn Eyes to New Powell-Mead Deal

/in , , /by /The Daily Sentinelby Dennis Webb

A 2007 deal creating guidelines governing how Lake Powell and Lake Mead are operated in coordination isn’t scheduled to expire until 2026. But water officials in Colorado River Basin states are already beginning to talk about the renegotiations that will be undertaken to decide what succeeds the 2007 criteria.

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Risk of Colorado River Shortage is on the Rise, Could Hit Within 5 Years, Officials say

/in , , /by /Arizona Republicby Ian James

The risks of water shortages continue to grow along the Colorado River, which supplies about 40 million people from Wyoming to Arizona.

Federal water managers released projections Tuesday showing higher odds of shortages occurring within the next five years.

The Colorado River is in the 21st year of a severe drought that’s being compounded by hotter temperatures influenced by climate change, and the river’s flows have increasingly been insufficient to meet all the demands of cities and farms across the region.

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Climate Change Likely to Keep Hammering Colorado River’s Biggest Reservoirs, Model Shows

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

The Colorado River’s largest reservoirs are expected to keep struggling over the next five years due to climate change, according to the federal agency that oversees them.

The Bureau of Reclamation’s new modeling projections, which include this year’s record-breaking heat and dryness in some parts of the southwestern watershed, show an increasing likelihood of an official shortage declaration before 2026.

If dry conditions like the Colorado River Basin has seen since 2000 persist, the agency’s model shows an almost 80% chance of seeing an official shortage declaration by 2025. The chance of seeing the reservoir drop to a critically low level is about 20% in that same time period.

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