Efforts to stretch the overused Colorado River appear to be working: The total amount of water used across Nevada, California and Arizona is the lowest it’s been in 40 years.
The reduction is the result of several factors, including a good snowpack year allowing for more use of groundwater, increased conservation efforts and millions of dollars in Inflation Reduction Act funding to incentivize farmers to use less water.
At the dawn of the new year in 1997, the Truckee River transformed. The winter season had thus far been great for snow, but when a subtropical storm from near the Hawaiian Islands rolled in, it carried with it unseasonably warm rain. The warm rainfall combined with snowmelt to swell the rivers, with the Truckee burying much of downtown Reno under water.
The first measurable, widespread snow is expected in California’s Sierra Nevada Wednesday into Thursday, with a cold storm from the Gulf of Alaska poised to sweep the Golden State, according to the National Weather Service. There’s another chance for snow later in the week as well.
The 2007 guidelines for the Lower Basin Water Shortage are set to soon expire. As leaders prepare for mapping out the next 20 years, public input is a top priority.
Bureau of Reclamation officials have already started planning how they will operate the river and reservoirs for the next 20 years and are looking to incorporate public opinion.
In the contentious, yearlong negotiations over how to share the pain of Colorado River shortages, California officials leaned on their state’s status as the basin’s most senior water rights holder — or the last in line to take cuts when supplies run low — to fend off arguments it should bear the brunt of reductions.
The gambit worked, ultimately sparking a compromise in which California will share cuts with Arizona and Nevada over the next three years. The deal means the state will give less than 10 percent of its annual allocation, in line with its original offer.
Lake Mead’s water levels have risen slightly as the record snowpack in the southwest continues to melt.
As of June 5, the Colorado River reservoir in Nevada stood at 1,054.42 feet.
The lake has risen sharply since the end of April when the Bureau of Reclamation released a vast amount of water from Lake Powell. The water ran through the Grand Canyon and eventually into Lake Mead, replenishing sandbars and beaches.
For the first time in this drought-stricken century, a new price for water in the West has been set – and it’s 25 times higher than what farmers have paid for the last 75 years.
Arizona, Nevada and California recently agreed to reduce their water consumption from the Colorado River by 13% through 2026. The federal government will pay their irrigation districts, Native American tribes and cities $521 for each acre-foot of water they don’t use.
Leaders of Southern California’s water wholesaler hailed a three-state agreement announced Monday aimed at dramatically reducing the amount of water pulled from the Colorado River over the next three years.
The proposed deal among California, Nevada, Arizona and the federal government would stave off what could have been far more dramatic cuts imposed by federal regulators had the states not brokered a deal by the end of the month.
If passed, a bill in the Nevada Legislature would urge the United States Bureau of Reclamation to consider more measures to protect and manage the Colorado River.
SJR 3 reads that the Colorado River is the most vital water source in Nevada, and much of the western states, including 22 Native American tribes and Mexico.
Ninety percent of Southern Nevada’s water supply comes from the Colorado River via Lake Mead, which is still facing unprecedented drought and aridification.
