Colorado River losing vast amounts of water due to warming climate, study finds
1 year, 4 months ago

Colorado River losing vast amounts of water due to warming climate, study finds

LA Times  

Children play on the shore of Lake Mead, near Las Vegas. “We’re going to continue to see reductions in runoff due to rising temperatures.” Average temperatures in the Colorado River Basin have already risen about 2.7 degrees, according to the study, which was published in the journal Water Resources Research. He called it “a wake-up call to the climate change impacts we are living today.” Much of the river’s water originates as snow and rain in the Rocky Mountains. “It’s all about using water a lot more wisely, and using Colorado River water less,” Overpeck said. They cited the negotiations aimed at cutting water use along the Colorado River, saying that despite this year’s wet winter, “much of the western United States remains in a long-term drought that is likely to worsen as climate change intensifies.”

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History of this topic

As Colorado River states await water cuts, they struggle to find agreement on longer-term plans
4 months, 1 week ago

As Colorado River states await water cuts, they struggle to find agreement on longer-term plans

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — The federal government is expected to announce water cuts soon that would affect some of the 40 million people reliant on the Colorado River, the powerhouse of the U.S. West. In 2007, following years of drought, the seven U.S. states in the basin — Arizona, Nevada, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — and the federal government …

California farmers set to cut use of Colorado River water, temporarily leaving fields dry
5 months, 1 week ago

California farmers set to cut use of Colorado River water, temporarily leaving fields dry

LA Times  

Welcome to Boiling Point. The Imperial Irrigation District delivers the single largest share of the Colorado River’s water to farmlands that produce hay for cattle as well as many of the country’s vegetables. Tina Shields, the district’s water manager, called it a “mini-fallowing program.” “The goal is to strengthen the Colorado River and ensure long-term viability and reliability,” Shields said. …

Plumbing problem at Glen Canyon Dam brings new threat to Colorado River system
8 months, 1 week ago

Plumbing problem at Glen Canyon Dam brings new threat to Colorado River system

Associated Press  

ATLANTA — Plumbing problems at the dam holding back the second-largest reservoir in the U.S. are spurring concerns about future water delivery issues to Southwestern states supplied by the Colorado River. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the major dams in the Colorado River system, is evaluating issues related to Glen Canyon Dam when Lake Powell reaches low levels. …

‘We can do better’: Western states divided over long-term plans for Colorado River water
9 months, 2 weeks ago

‘We can do better’: Western states divided over long-term plans for Colorado River water

LA Times  

With climate change compounding the strains on the Colorado River, seven Western states are starting to consider long-term plans for reducing water use to prevent the river’s reservoirs from reaching critically low levels in the years to come. In one camp, the three states in the river’s lower basin — California, Arizona and Nevada — say their approach would share …

Climate change, cost and competition for water drive settlement over tribal rights to Colorado River
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Climate change, cost and competition for water drive settlement over tribal rights to Colorado River

Associated Press  

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A Native American tribe with one of the largest outstanding claims to water in the Colorado River basin is closing in on a settlement with more than a dozen parties, putting it on a path to piping water to tens of thousands of tribal members in Arizona who still live without it. Negotiating terms outlined late Wednesday …

California water agencies announce conservation plans to ease strains on Colorado River
1 year ago

California water agencies announce conservation plans to ease strains on Colorado River

LA Times  

The Biden administration has announced new water-saving agreements with California water agencies intended to shore up supplies on the overburdened Colorado River. California’s Colorado River Board said Wednesday that several water agencies and one tribal nation signed the first in a series of agreements that will conserve up to 1.6 million acre-feet of water. The latest agreements “represent another critical …

Feds say Colorado River water cuts are sufficient to stave off immediate risks
1 year, 1 month ago

Feds say Colorado River water cuts are sufficient to stave off immediate risks

LA Times  

Current plans for reducing water use along the Colorado River should be sufficient to stave off the risk of reservoirs reaching critically low levels over the next three years, according to a new analysis by the federal government. Deputy Interior Secretary Tommy Beaudreau said the ongoing conservation efforts by states in the Colorado River Basin have helped ease the immediate …

As Colorado River shrinks, California farmers urge ‘one-dam solution’
1 year, 3 months ago

As Colorado River shrinks, California farmers urge ‘one-dam solution’

LA Times  

John Weisheit, co-founder of the group Living Rivers, says the Colorado River should be restored to a more natural state by decommissioning Glen Canyon Dam. For years, environmentalists have argued that the Colorado River should be allowed to flow freely across the Utah-Arizona border, saying that letting water pass around Glen Canyon Dam — and draining the giant Lake Powell …

Colorado River Basin ranks among the world’s most water-stressed regions, analysis finds
1 year, 4 months ago

Colorado River Basin ranks among the world’s most water-stressed regions, analysis finds

LA Times  

Parker Dam holds back the Colorado River between Arizona and California and creates Lake Havasu. The analysis by researchers with the World Resources Institute found that all seven states that rely on the Colorado River face high or extremely high water stress. “When I put the results on a map, the first thing I saw was the Colorado River Basin,” …

10 trillion gallons of water lost in Colorado River Basin due to rising temperatures: Report
1 year, 4 months ago

10 trillion gallons of water lost in Colorado River Basin due to rising temperatures: Report

Hindustan Times  

The harmful effects of global warming are being felt very starkly across the United States. According to a report published by CNN, the Colorado River Basin has lost more than 10 trillion gallons of water between 2000 and 2021 due to rising temperatures. Colorado River Notably, the Colorado River runs through seven Western states and provides water for drinking, irrigation …

Drought-ravaged Colorado River gets relief from snow. But long-term water crisis remains
1 year, 8 months ago

Drought-ravaged Colorado River gets relief from snow. But long-term water crisis remains

LA Times  

View of the Colorado River continuing past Hoover Dam, on the border between Nevada and Arizona, on April 3. “It’s a great snowpack,” said Bill Hasencamp, manager of Colorado River resources for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. “This snowpack means we don’t need nearly the level of cuts as we thought we might have just four months ago,” …

How the Colorado River crisis affects hydropower.
1 year, 10 months ago

How the Colorado River crisis affects hydropower.

Slate  

The Colorado River, which allows the desert to sustain itself and powers millions of American homes, is currently engaged in the fight of its life. The Hoover Dam at Lake Mead and the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell provide power for approximately 4 million Americans in the seven basin states. Despite these concerns, hydropower makes up almost one-third of …

At the heart of Colorado River crisis, the mighty ‘Law of the River’ holds sway
1 year, 10 months ago

At the heart of Colorado River crisis, the mighty ‘Law of the River’ holds sway

LA Times  

The Colorado River cuts through Marle Canyon in the Navajo Nation en route to the Grand Canyon. But as California argues most strongly for strict adherence to this system of water apportionment, the other states say it makes little sense when the river’s largest reservoir, Lake Mead, continues to decline toward “dead pool” level, which would effectively cut off the …

California is alone in battle over Colorado River water cuts
1 year, 10 months ago

California is alone in battle over Colorado River water cuts

LA Times  

After a key deadline passed this week without an agreement on how to address the Colorado River’s crisis, California is now sharply at odds with six other states over how to take less water from the shrinking river. “California is trying to play its best card, which is, ‘The law is on our side.’ And the other six states are …

US states propose Colorado River cuts, California lone holdout
1 year, 10 months ago

US states propose Colorado River cuts, California lone holdout

Al Jazeera  

Authorities in US West are in talks to cut water use as Colorado River faces historically low levels amid drought. Six states in the western United States that rely on water from the Colorado River have agreed on a model to dramatically cut water use in the basin, months after the federal government called for action and an initial deadline …

States miss deadline to address Colorado River water crisis; pressure builds on California
1 year, 10 months ago

States miss deadline to address Colorado River water crisis; pressure builds on California

LA Times  

Water levels in Lake Powell have been dropping during the past 23 years of drought in the Colorado River Basin. In announcing the proposal Monday, Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, called it a key step in the “ongoing dialogue” among the seven states “as we continue to seek a collaborative solution to stabilize the Colorado …

The river’s end: Amid Colorado water cuts, Mexico seeks to restore its lost oasis
1 year, 10 months ago

The river’s end: Amid Colorado water cuts, Mexico seeks to restore its lost oasis

LA Times  

When the Colorado River reaches the U.S.-Mexico border, it pushes up against Morelos Dam. VIDEO | 8:29 Colorado riverkeeper says day of reckoning is here: ‘This river can’t sustain 40 million people’ For decades, so much water has been diverted to supply farms and cities that the Colorado River has seldom met the sea and much of its delta in …

The Colorado River: Where the West quenches its thirst
1 year, 10 months ago

The Colorado River: Where the West quenches its thirst

LA Times  

The Colorado River begins in the Rocky Mountains, collecting snowmelt as it meanders through an alpine valley. Introduction by Ian James HEADWATERS | CANYONLANDS | LAKE POWELL | GRAND CANYON | LAS VEGAS | NEEDLES | LAKE HAVASU | PHOENIX | IMPERIAL VALLEY | YUMA | MEXICO HEADWATERS Rifle Falls sets a wintry scene near the community of Rifle, Colo., …

Why heavy winter rain and snow won't be enough to pull the West out of a megadrought
1 year, 11 months ago

Why heavy winter rain and snow won't be enough to pull the West out of a megadrought

NPR  

Why heavy winter rain and snow won't be enough to pull the West out of a megadrought Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Hager/KUNC Alex Hager/KUNC This winter, the West has been slammed by wet weather. Snow piled high in the Rockies is crucial for the Colorado River — a water lifeline for people from Wyoming to Mexico in an …

Federal officials say urgent action needed to protect shrinking Colorado River reservoirs
2 years ago

Federal officials say urgent action needed to protect shrinking Colorado River reservoirs

LA Times  

A boat sits in a cove on Lake Powell, in Utah, in May. Speaking at the conference Friday, Touton said: “I can feel the anxiety, the uncertainty in this room, and in the basin, as we look at the river and the hydrology that we face.” Touton noted that an agreement a century ago, the 1922 Colorado River Compact, divided …

More questions than answers at Colorado River water meetings
2 years ago

More questions than answers at Colorado River water meetings

Associated Press  

LAS VEGAS — Key questions resurfaced Thursday at a conference of Colorado River water administrators and users from seven U.S. states, Native American tribes and Mexico who are served by the shrinking river stricken by drought and climate change. I just have questions right now,” Ted Cooke, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, said during a Colorado River Water …

Growing fears of ‘dead pool’ on Colorado River as drought threatens Hoover Dam water
2 years ago

Growing fears of ‘dead pool’ on Colorado River as drought threatens Hoover Dam water

LA Times  

The Colorado River’s largest reservoirs stand nearly three-quarters empty, and federal officials now say there is a real danger the reservoirs could drop so low that water would no longer flow past Hoover Dam in two years. Outlining their latest projections for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the nation’s two largest reservoirs, federal water managers said there is a risk …

Colorado River water users convening amid crisis concerns
2 years ago

Colorado River water users convening amid crisis concerns

Associated Press  

LAS VEGAS — Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus this week for state and federal water administrators, tribal officials, farmers, academics and business representatives meeting about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in June told the seven states that are part of the Colorado River Basin — Arizona, California, Colorado, …

Drying California lake to get $250M in US drought funding
2 years ago

Drying California lake to get $250M in US drought funding

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The federal government said Monday it will spend $250 million over four years on environmental cleanup and restoration work around a drying Southern California lake that’s fed by the depleted Colorado River. The lake is largely fed by runoff from farms in California’s Imperial Valley, who use Colorado River water to grow many of the nation’s winter …

Feds to Colorado River states: reduce water usage, or we will do it for you
2 years, 1 month ago

Feds to Colorado River states: reduce water usage, or we will do it for you

Salon  

This story is part of the Grist series Parched, an in-depth look at how climate change-fueled drought is reshaping communities, economies, and ecosystems. In theory, the federal government can unilaterally cut water deliveries from the Colorado River's two main reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, which release more than 2 trillion gallons of water to farms and cities across the …

Increasing pressures on Colorado River water in New Mexico
2 years, 3 months ago

Increasing pressures on Colorado River water in New Mexico

Associated Press  

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Colorado River tributaries in New Mexico bring water to the alfalfa fields in the Four Corners and the forested hills of the Gila wilderness in the southwestern part of the state. State Engineer Mike Hamman, New Mexico’s top water manager, said the state “really feels the shortages” because it doesn’t have the big reservoirs of other states …

Stressed Colorado River keeps California desert farms alive
2 years, 3 months ago

Stressed Colorado River keeps California desert farms alive

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When Don Cox was looking for a reliable place to build a family farm in the 1950s, he settled on California’s Imperial Valley. If the river were to become unusable, Southern California would lose a third of its water supply and vast swaths of farmland in the state’s southeastern desert would go unplanted. “Without it, the Imperial …

California water agencies brace for Colorado River cuts
2 years, 3 months ago

California water agencies brace for Colorado River cuts

LA Times  

California water districts are under growing pressure to shoulder substantial water cutbacks as the federal government pushes for urgent solutions to prevent the Colorado River’s badly depleted reservoirs from reaching dangerously low levels. They include improving water efficiency in agriculture, creating a regional program to help people with the costs of removing grass, and redefining “beneficial use” to eliminate “wasteful …

Crisis looms without big cuts to over-tapped Colorado River
2 years, 4 months ago

Crisis looms without big cuts to over-tapped Colorado River

Associated Press  

SALT LAKE CITY — Hydroelectric turbines may stop turning. People have “been hoping to stave off this day,” said Felicia Marcus, a former top water official in California, which holds the largest right to the river’s water. Entsminger and his counterparts in Arizona, Utah and California, as well as local officials in and around Phoenix, also repeated what has become …

Drought in the US: Water Supply Cut for States Colorado, Arizona; Mexico’s Quota Reduced
2 years, 4 months ago

Drought in the US: Water Supply Cut for States Colorado, Arizona; Mexico’s Quota Reduced

News 18  

Water supplies to some US states and Mexico will be cut to avoid “catastrophic collapse” of the Colorado River, Washington officials said Tuesday, as a historic drought bites. More than two decades of well below average rainfall have left the river — the lifeblood of the western United States — at critical levels, as human-caused climate change worsens the natural …

As water crisis worsens on Colorado River, an urgent call for Western states to ‘act now’
2 years, 6 months ago

As water crisis worsens on Colorado River, an urgent call for Western states to ‘act now’

LA Times  

A person walks past a formerly sunken boat on a now-dry section of lakebed at Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoir. She provided details about the federal government’s approach to the crisis two days after Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton announced that major cuts of between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet will be needed next year to keep reservoirs …

Major water cutbacks loom as shrinking Colorado River nears ‘moment of reckoning’
2 years, 6 months ago

Major water cutbacks loom as shrinking Colorado River nears ‘moment of reckoning’

LA Times  

Exposed banks of Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam show how low water levels have dropped on the Colorado River-fed reservoir due to persistent and worsening drought. As the West endures another year of unrelenting drought worsened by climate change, the Colorado River’s reservoirs have declined so low that major water cuts will be necessary next year to reduce risks of …

Water shortages on Colorado River could eventually hit California, Arizona warns
2 years, 7 months ago

Water shortages on Colorado River could eventually hit California, Arizona warns

LA Times  

A rainbow hangs over Lake Powell on March 28 in Page, Ariz. Lake Powell has declined to just 24% of full capacity, the lowest point since it was filled in the 1960s following the construction of Glen Canyon Dam. Federal projections show Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country’s two largest reservoirs, will keep on declining in the coming months, …

As drought crisis deepens, government will release less water from Colorado River reservoir
2 years, 7 months ago

As drought crisis deepens, government will release less water from Colorado River reservoir

LA Times  

A boat floats on Lake Powell, a vast reservoir of Colorado River water situated near the Utah-Arizona border. Representatives of the seven states responded in a letter on April 22, saying they agreed that “additional cooperative actions should be taken this spring to reduce the risk of Lake Powell declining below critical elevations.” The state officials said they support the …

Drought Is Threatening Hydropower in the Southwestern US
2 years, 8 months ago

Drought Is Threatening Hydropower in the Southwestern US

Wired  

News that Lake Powell, a reservoir on the border of Arizona and Utah, is slowly but surely drying up has spread far and wide. Behind the 1,320-megawatt Glen Canyon Dam and power station, Lake Powell plays an important role in providing power for some 3 million customers in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. According to Becki Bryant, the …

Phoenix among those voluntarily losing Colorado River water
2 years, 11 months ago

Phoenix among those voluntarily losing Colorado River water

Associated Press  

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The city of Phoenix this week outlined how it will voluntarily contribute water to a regional plan to shore up the country’s largest reservoir that delivers Colorado River water to three states and Mexico. The plan announced in December provides funding for states in the lower Colorado River basin — Arizona, Nevada and California — plus the …

States volunteer to take more cuts in Colorado River water
3 years ago

States volunteer to take more cuts in Colorado River water

Associated Press  

LAS VEGAS — Water leaders in Arizona, Nevada and California signed an agreement Wednesday to voluntarily reduce their take from the Colorado River to help stave off mandatory cuts in the upcoming years. The signing took place at the Colorado River Water Users Association annual meeting in Las Vegas, amid urgency to negotiate new rules for managing the dwindling river …

As climate talks put focus on water crisis, the Colorado River provides a stark example
3 years, 1 month ago

As climate talks put focus on water crisis, the Colorado River provides a stark example

LA Times  

As world leaders meet in Scotland this week to discuss efforts to address the climate crisis, experts are urging greater focus on adapting to fundamental shifts in the planet’s water supplies — and they’re pointing to the Colorado River as a prime example. “I can easily point to the Colorado as a place where we only have hard choices now.” …

First water cuts in US West supply to hammer Arizona farmers
3 years, 4 months ago

First water cuts in US West supply to hammer Arizona farmers

Associated Press  

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — A harvester rumbles through the fields in the early morning light, mowing down rows of corn and chopping up ears, husks and stalks into mulch for feed at a local dairy. Standing next to a dry field, his boots kicking up dust, farmer Will Thelander said “more and more of the farm is going to look …

US: More must be done to protect Colorado River from drought
4 years ago

US: More must be done to protect Colorado River from drought

Associated Press  

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — A set of guidelines for managing the Colorado River helped several states through a dry spell, but it’s not enough to keep key reservoirs in the American West from plummeting amid persistent drought and climate change, according to a U.S. report released Friday. The report by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation found that the guidelines provided stability, …

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