Tag Archive for: Lake Powell

Don’t Expect Miracle May This Month on the Colorado River

/in , , /by /Arizona Daily Starby Tony Davis

The Colorado River Basin appears to be out of miracles this spring.

Five years after a “Miracle May” of record rainfall staved off what had appeared to be the river’s first imminent shortage in water deliveries, the hope for another in 2021 “is fading quickly,” says the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center’s latest report, released Thursday.

That’s one more piece of bad news for the Central Arizona Project. A first-time shortage is now likely to slash deliveries of river water to Central Arizona farmers starting in 2022 but won’t affect drinking water supplies for Tucson, Phoenix and other cities, or for tribes and industries that get CAP water.

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Arizona Positioned to Take on Cuts in Colorado River Supply

/in , , /by /AP Newsby Felicia Fonseca

Water officials in Arizona say they are prepared to lose about one-fifth of the water the state gets from the Colorado River in what could be the first federally declared shortage in the river that supplies millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico.

Arizona stands to lose more than any other state in the Colorado River basin that also takes in parts of Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Nevada and California. That’s because Arizona agreed long ago to be the first in line for cuts in exchange for federal funding for a canal system to deliver the water to Arizona’s major metropolitan areas.

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Opinion: Water Created California and the West. Will Drought Finish Them Off?

/in , , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Michael Hiltzik

In what may become an iconic image for drought-stricken California, Gov. Gavin Newsom stood on the parched bed of Lake Mendocino on April 21 to announce an emergency declaration for Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

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As a Hotter, Drier Climate Grips the Colorado River, Water Risks Grow Across the Southwest

/in , , /by /The Arizona Republic by Ian James

The water level of Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir, has dropped more than 130 feet since the beginning of 2000, when the lake’s surface lapped at the spillway gates on Hoover Dam.

Twenty-one years later, with the Colorado River consistently yielding less water as the climate has grown warmer and drier, the reservoir near Las Vegas sits at just 39% of capacity. And it’s approaching the threshold of a shortage for the first time since it was filled in the 1930s.

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Federally Declared Water Shortage Still Projected for Lake Mead

/in , /by /Las Vegas Review-Journalby Blake Apgar

Lake Mead is still expected to experience its first federally declared water shortage next year, a recently released federal study shows. Projections released by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation last week.

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This Stunning Timelapse Shows the Megadrought’s Toll on the West’s Largest Reservoir

/in , , /by /VoxMedia by Lili Pike

Just how bad is the drought in the Western US? The shrinking of Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir, is a troubling indicator.

The massive man-made lake, which straddles the border of Arizona and Nevada, is now only at 39% of its full capacity, down from 44% in April 2020. That’s equivalent to a 10-foot drop in the water level, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Reclamation. Which means mandatory restrictions on the amount of water surrounding states draw from Lake Mead could be triggered in the next few months.

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Three States, One River and Too Many Straws

/in , , /by /Western FarmPress by Todd Fitchette

As drought deepens across the West, California’s decision to limit State Water Project (SWP) deliveries to 5% forced Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to increase pumping from the Colorado River near Lake Havasu. The good news: there’s water behind Hoover Dam for them to use. The bad news: As MWD draws on what they call “intentionally created surplus” under a previous agreement, Lake Mead will fall below the threshold for Tier 1 restrictions, leading to a curtailment of water deliveries to Arizona farmers.

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US West Prepares For Possible 1st Water Shortage Declaration

/in , , /by /AP News by Sam Metz

The man-made lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government’s first-ever official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the U.S. Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on.

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Lake Powell Could Hit Near-Record Lows From Drought

/in , , /by /FOX 13 (Salt Lake City)by Lauren Steinbrecher

In cruising Lake Powell this year, as people explore canyons and take in the beauty of the rock formations, they’ll also see first-hand what extreme drought looks like.

They could come across previously submerged trees standing bare out-of-water. Or maybe they’ll notice the “bathtub ring” lining the canyon walls, where the water used to sit. Some lucky groups might even find shipwrecked boats revealed on the shore.

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Drought Hitting Home in California, Arizona

/in , , /by /Western FarmPressby Todd Fitchette

As drought deepens in the West and the water used by farms and people alike dwindles, farmers in Arizona and California are bracing for cutbacks in the two major federal systems that supply irrigation and drinking water to millions of people.

Water storage is shrinking with no snowpack to replenish reservoirs managed by the Bureau of Reclamation in California and Arizona. Shasta Lake in northern California is about half full while lakes Mead and Powell, the two giant reservoirs designed to contain more than 50-million-acre feet of water behind Hoover and Glen Canyon dams, respectively, are precariously low with under 20-million-acre feet of total storage combined.

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