Tag Archive for: Lake Powell

They Sounded Alarms About a Coming Colorado River Crisis. But Warnings Went Unheeded

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Ian James

The Colorado River is approaching a breaking point, its reservoirs depleted and western states under pressure to drastically cut water use.

It’s a crisis that scientists have long warned was coming. Years before the current shortage, scientists repeatedly alerted public officials who manage water supplies that the chronic overuse of the river combined with the effects of climate change would likely drain the Colorado’s reservoirs to dangerously low levels.

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Supervisor Plancarte Calls for Water Shortage Summit

/in , , /by /Holtville Tribuneby Marcie Landeros

 Imperial County District 2 Supervisor Luis Plancarte called for a water shortage summit for all of the water providers in Imperial County to see where they stand with plans to reduce water consumption in light of extreme drought conditions in the state.

An emergency regulation was passed on May 24 by the state Water Resources Control Board, which required urban and commercial water suppliers to implement the second stage of their respective water shortage plans.

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Opinion: A Water Strategy for the Parched West: Have Cities Pay Farmers to Install More Efficient Irrigation Systems

/in , , /by /The Conversationby Robert Glennon

“Are you going to run out of water?” is the first question people ask when they find out I’m from Arizona. The answer is that some people already have, others soon may and it’s going to get much worse without dramatic changes.

Unsustainable water practices, drought, and climate change are causing this crisis across the U.S. Southwest. States are drawing less water from the Colorado River, which supplies water to 40 million people.

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The Southwest Is Bone Dry. Now, a Key Water Source Is at Risk

/in , , /by /Politicoby Lara Korte

California and six other Western states have less than 60 days to pull off a seemingly impossible feat: Cut a multi-way deal to dramatically reduce their consumption of water from the dangerously low Colorado River.

If they don’t, the federal government will do it for them.

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Colorado’s Water Leader Thinks Most of the Needed Colorado River Cuts Should Be Made by Arizona, Nevada and California

/in , /by /CPR Newsby Michael Elizabeth Sakas

Last month, the federal government dropped a bombshell on the states that share the Colorado River.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation gave Colorado and the other six states in the basin just two months to come up with a plan to drastically reduce the amount of river water they use. If they don’t, the federal government has threatened to use its emergency authority to make the cuts it feels are necessary.

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Opinion: What Will Happen to the Colorado River? What We Know About Looming Water Cuts

/in , , /by /AZ Centralby Joanna Allhands

The seven states that rely on the Colorado River must come up with a plan to cut 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water use.

By mid-August.

And if they don’t, the federal Bureau of Reclamation will act for them.

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Feds Seek Ideas on How to Manage a Drier Colorado River

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

For many decades, the Colorado River was managed with the attitude that its water levels would remain roughly stable over time, punctuated by alternating wet and dry periods.

But in the face of possibly the river’s driest period in 1,200 years, a new approach is now needed to managing the river’s reservoirs — one that can account for “deep uncertainty” about future climate and runoff conditions, says the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

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As Summer Begins, Thinking About Our Drought Problem: Empathy

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Steven P. Dinkin

In the rainless season we call summer in California, images of shrinking bodies of water have a way of looming large.

After more than 22 years of drought compounded by warmer temperatures, Lake Mead and Lake Powell — water sources that are vital to life in the Southwest — have declined to their lowest levels since they were filled. The two reservoirs now sit at just 28 percent of capacity.

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Colorado River States Need to Drastically Cut Down Their Water Usage ASAP, or the Federal Government Will Step in

/in , /by /CPR Newsby Michael Elizabeth Sakas

During a U.S. Senate hearing on Western drought earlier this week, the commissioner for the Bureau of Reclamation told the states in the Colorado River Basin that they have 60 days to create an emergency plan to stop using between 2 and 4 million acre-feet of water in the next year or the agency will use its emergency authority to make the cuts itself.

For context, the entire state of Arizona is allowed to use 2.8 million acre-feet of Colorado River water each year.

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Under Federal Pressure, Colorado River Water Managers Face Unprecedented Call for Conservation

/in , , /by /KUNCby Alex Hager and Luke Runyon

Colorado River water managers are facing a monumental task. Federal officials have given leaders in seven Western states a new charge — to commit to an unprecedented amount of conservation and do it before an August deadline.

Without major cutbacks in water use, the nation’s two largest reservoirs — Lake Powell and Lake Mead — are in danger of reaching critically low levels.

On June 14, Bureau of Reclamation commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton came to a Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing with a prognosis, a goal and a threat.

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