To conserve, Nevada may try to buy back groundwater rights
1 year, 8 months ago

To conserve, Nevada may try to buy back groundwater rights

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Marty Plaskett upgraded his farming equipment and spent $60,000 on new sprinklers to conserve water, even before the rural Nevada valley where he farms alfalfa began more strictly managing groundwater. At a recent bill hearing, Jake Tibbitts, natural resources manager for rural Eureka County in central Nevada, said the state is responsible for over-allocating water rights in areas that have then seen tight-knit farming communities pop up. The state Supreme Court set new precedent last year when it ruled that management plans for these types of critical areas, which are regulated by Nevada's top water official, can deviate from a longstanding hierarchy of water rights determined by seniority. Micheline Fairbank, deputy administrator of the Nevada Division of Water Resources, said the agency isn't planning to create more critical management areas, even in basins that could qualify.

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History of this topic

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will lose same amount of Colorado River water next year as in 2024
4 months, 1 week ago

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will lose same amount of Colorado River water next year as in 2024

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will continue to live with less water next year from the Colorado River after the U.S. government on Thursday announced water cuts that preserve the status quo. Officials do so based on water levels at Lake Mead, one of the river’s two main reservoirs that act as barometers of its health. Based on those …

‘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 …

Arizona’s Senate has passed a plan to manage rural groundwater, but final success is uncertain
9 months, 3 weeks ago

Arizona’s Senate has passed a plan to manage rural groundwater, but final success is uncertain

Associated Press  

PHOENIX — A plan to manage rural groundwater passed Arizona’s Republican-controlled Senate on Thursday amid growing concerns about the availability of sufficient water for future generations in the arid Southwestern state. “This legislation leaves rural Arizonans without a real solution for how their groundwater is managed,” Hobbs’ spokesperson Christian Slater said Thursday. “Governor Hobbs is dedicated to continued work with …

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 …

A Tangle of Rules to Protect America’s Water Is Falling Short
1 year, 1 month ago

A Tangle of Rules to Protect America’s Water Is Falling Short

New York Times  

UNCHARTED WATERS A Tangle of Rules to Protect America’s Water Is Falling Short The Times asked all 50 states how they manage groundwater. Matthew Staver for The New York Times “I hate to say this, but essentially we don’t care if everything goes dry,” said Christopher Neel, a division chief at the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, although he added that …

Federal officials say plan for water cuts from 3 Western states is enough to protect Colorado River
1 year, 1 month ago

Federal officials say plan for water cuts from 3 Western states is enough to protect Colorado River

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Federal officials said Wednesday that conditions have improved on the Colorado River to the point that a plan by California, Arizona and Nevada to voluntarily reduce water use should help keep the river basin on stable footing for the next few years. The U.S. Department of the Interior said in a statement that the risk of reaching …

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 …

Feds announce start of public process to reshape key rules on Colorado River water use by 2027
1 year, 6 months ago

Feds announce start of public process to reshape key rules on Colorado River water use by 2027

Associated Press  

LAS VEGAS — A public process started Thursday to reshape the way Colorado River water is distributed, with federal officials promising to collect comments about updating and enacting rules in 2027 to continue providing hydropower, drinking water and irrigation to farms, cities and tribes in seven Western U.S. states and Mexico. Interior Department said it will publish in the Federal …

Explainer: What does the latest Colorado River proposal mean for California, Arizona, Nevada?
1 year, 7 months ago

Explainer: What does the latest Colorado River proposal mean for California, Arizona, Nevada?

Associated Press  

LAS VEGAS — Facing the future with a dwindling Colorado River supply and intense pressure from the federal government, Arizona, California and Nevada have offered a plan to cut their water use significantly. Metropolitan will turn to other sources of water and leave about 250,000 acre-feet in Lake Mead this year, said Bill Hasencamp, the district’s manager of Colorado River …

Explainer: What does the latest Colorado River proposal mean for California, Arizona, Nevada?
1 year, 7 months ago

Explainer: What does the latest Colorado River proposal mean for California, Arizona, Nevada?

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Facing the future with a …

Arizona, California and Nevada propose water cuts from Colorado River to avert forced cuts
1 year, 7 months ago

Arizona, California and Nevada propose water cuts from Colorado River to avert forced cuts

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Arizona, California and Nevada on Monday proposed a plan to significantly reduce their water use …

In Arizona, fresh scrutiny of Saudi-owned farm's water use
1 year, 7 months ago

In Arizona, fresh scrutiny of Saudi-owned farm's water use

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In an interview with The Associated Press, Attorney General …

In Colorado River talks, still no agreement about water cuts
1 year, 8 months ago

In Colorado River talks, still no agreement about water cuts

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Please try again later {{ …

Nevada considers allowing Las Vegas water agency to limit residential use
1 year, 9 months ago

Nevada considers allowing Las Vegas water agency to limit residential use

LA Times  

Nevada lawmakers are considering a remarkable shift in allowing the water agency that manages the Colorado River supply for Las Vegas to limit single-family residential use in the desert city and surrounding county. Although some agencies across the U.S. West tie increased water use to increased cost, Nevada could be the first to give a water agency, in this case …

Editorial: An unfair plan to cut California’s use of Colorado River water
1 year, 9 months ago

Editorial: An unfair plan to cut California’s use of Colorado River water

LA Times  

The immediate question before the seven states that use rapidly vanishing Colorado River water is not how to renegotiate the century-old agreement and accompanying laws that divvy up the supply. The urgent question at present is what emergency steps the states must take in the interim to keep enough Colorado River water in two huge but dangerously depleted reservoirs to …

California releases its own plan for Colorado River cuts
1 year, 10 months ago

California releases its own plan for Colorado River cuts

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California released a plan Tuesday detailing how Western states reliant on the Colorado River should save more water. Unlike the other states’ plan, California’s does not factor the roughly 1.5 million acre feet of Colorado River water lost to evaporation and transportation. “That was the issue over the summer, that was the issue over the fall, that’s …

Battling to avoid massive water cuts, California offers proposal on Colorado River crisis
1 year, 10 months ago

Battling to avoid massive water cuts, California offers proposal on Colorado River crisis

LA Times  

California has given the federal government its own proposal for making cuts in Colorado River water use, saying a plan offered by six other states would disproportionately burden farms and cities in Southern California. In the proposal letter, J.B. Hamby, chair of California’s Colorado River Board, said the state’s alternative “provides a realistic and implementable framework to address reduced inflows …

Facing Colorado River shortage, 30 urban suppliers pledge to target decorative grass
2 years, 1 month ago

Facing Colorado River shortage, 30 urban suppliers pledge to target decorative grass

LA Times  

With the federal government calling for major cuts in water use to address the historic shortage on the Colorado River, the leaders of 30 agencies that supply cities from the Rocky Mountains to Southern California have signed an agreement committing to boost conservation, in part by pledging to target the removal of one especially thirsty mainstay of suburban landscapes: decorative …

More water restrictions likely as California pledges to cut use of Colorado River supply
2 years, 2 months ago

More water restrictions likely as California pledges to cut use of Colorado River supply

LA Times  

With the Colorado River in crisis and reservoir levels continuing to decline, some California water agencies are planning to significantly reduce the amount they take from the river starting next year. Four water districts and the state’s Colorado River Board said in a letter to the federal government on Wednesday that they are proposing to reduce water use by up …

In Arizona, worry about access to Colorado River water
2 years, 3 months ago

In Arizona, worry about access to Colorado River water

Associated Press  

TUCSON, Ariz. — Robbie Woodhouse’s grandfather began nearly a century of family farming along the Gila River near Yuma in the middle 1920s when he dug up a bunch of mesquite stumps on his land to make way for his barley, wheat, Bermuda seed, cotton and melon fields. Due to a logjam in interstate negotiations for massive cuts in Colorado …

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 talks on Colorado River water falter, U.S. government imposes new restrictions
2 years, 4 months ago

As talks on Colorado River water falter, U.S. government imposes new restrictions

LA Times  

The water level in Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, has been dropping amid severe drought conditions and has reached its lowest point since Hoover Dam was built in the 1930s. After Colorado River Basin states failed to meet a deadline for emergency drought reductions Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced new emergency water cuts for Arizona, Nevada and …

Tensions grow over lack of a water deal for the shrinking Colorado River
2 years, 4 months ago

Tensions grow over lack of a water deal for the shrinking Colorado River

LA Times  

Visitors walk on Hoover Dam high above Lake Mead. In a July 18 letter to Touton, Charles Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission, said the four upper states have “limited” options available to protect reservoir levels. Cullom wrote that “previous drought response actions are depleting upstream storage by 661,000 acre-feet,” and that the four states’ water users …

California deepens water cuts to cope with drought, hitting thousands of farms
2 years, 5 months ago

California deepens water cuts to cope with drought, hitting thousands of farms

LA Times  

The predawn glow is reflected in the Sacramento River in Red Bluff. California regulators have begun curtailing the water rights of many farms and irrigation districts along the Sacramento River, forcing growers to stop diverting water from the river and its tributaries. And it reflects just how dry things have been in California over the last three years,” said Erik …

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 …

California lawmakers mull buying out farmers to save water
2 years, 6 months ago

California lawmakers mull buying out farmers to save water

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After decades of fighting farmers in court over how much water they can take out of California’s rivers and streams, some state lawmakers want to try something different: use taxpayer money to buy out farmers. A proposal in the state Senate would spend up to $1.5 billion to buy “senior water rights” that allow farmers to take …

As California’s big cities fail to cut their water use, rural communities are already tapped out
2 years, 6 months ago

As California’s big cities fail to cut their water use, rural communities are already tapped out

CNN  

CNN — Gary Biggs’ family hasn’t had water coming out of their private well for over a decade, after a multi-year drought and overpumping by agriculture and industry. “Believe it or not climate change is here, and California is a poster child for it.” As cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco struggle to cut their water use – water …

Navajo sign water rights settlement with Utah and feds
2 years, 6 months ago

Navajo sign water rights settlement with Utah and feds

Associated Press  

MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah — Federal officials signed an agreement with leaders of the Navajo Nation on Friday that provides funding for clean drinking water infrastructure for reservation residents and resolves questions about longstanding Navajo claims to water rights in the drought-stricken U.S. West. The signing formalizes the Utah Navajo Water Rights Settlement, which became law in 2020 as part of …

What Israel, Las Vegas and other places can teach SoCal about using a lot less water
2 years, 7 months ago

What Israel, Las Vegas and other places can teach SoCal about using a lot less water

LA Times  

Millions of Southern Californians will wake up to the region’s most severe water restrictions ever on June 1, with local water agencies under orders to slash the use of supplies from the State Water Project by 35%. As Southern California considers its own response, Crowley said it was helpful for officials to remember that “what works for one person doesn’t …

California plan would pay farmers to grow less to save water
2 years, 8 months ago

California plan would pay farmers to grow less to save water

Associated Press  

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California would pay farmers not to plant thousands of acres of land as part of a $2.9 billion plan announced Tuesday aimed at letting more water flow through the state’s major rivers and streams to help restore the unique habitat in one of North America’s largest estuaries. The agreement, signed Tuesday between state and federal officials and …

EXPLAINER: California farmers hit again with water cuts
2 years, 9 months ago

EXPLAINER: California farmers hit again with water cuts

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Farmers in central California will be getting little to no water again from a key water system amid a persisting drought, but exactly how they’re affected will vary. “That’s part of the economics that growers have to work through in deciding what they’re going to plant or irrigate,” said Ara Azhderian, who manages a water district near Fresno …

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 drought worsens, regulators impose unprecedented water restrictions on California farms
3 years, 4 months ago

As drought worsens, regulators impose unprecedented water restrictions on California farms

LA Times  

Amid intensifying drought, state water regulators voted Tuesday to enact a drastic emergency order that will bar thousands of Californians — primarily farmers — from using stream and river water. But the scope of Tuesday’s order — which will apply to thousands of senior water rights across a wide swath of the state — is unprecedented, officials said. About 5,700 …

US West prepares for possible 1st water shortage declaration
3 years, 8 months ago

US West prepares for possible 1st water shortage declaration

Associated Press  

CARSON CITY, Nev. — 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. That’s the level that prompts a shortage declaration under …

Western states chart diverging paths as water shortages loom
3 years, 9 months ago

Western states chart diverging paths as water shortages loom

Associated Press  

SALT LAKE CITY — As persistent drought and climate change threaten the Colorado River, several states that rely on the water acknowledge they likely won’t get what they were promised a century ago. Republican lawmakers approved an entity that could push for more of Utah’s share of water as seven Western states prepare to negotiate how to sustain a river …

Western states chart diverging paths as water shortages loom
3 years, 9 months ago

Western states chart diverging paths as water shortages loom

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy As persistent drought and climate …

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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