unlimited it's the water, stupid

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How Colorado River Cuts Could Affect California
No other state gets more water from the dwindling river than California does.

The Colorado River, a significant source of water for California and six other Western states, is shrinking.

Over the past century, the river's flow has averaged about 15 million acre-feet of water a year. But from 2000 through 2022, a period of drought conditions, the average was closer to 12 million acre-feet. And in each of the past three years, it's been less than 10 million. (An acre-foot is enough to cover an acre of land with a foot of water. It's about as much water as two typical households use in a year.)

The reduced flow in the river has forced major cutbacks for the states that rely on the river to supply water to as many as 40 million residents of the region. The Interior Department had asked those states — California, Nevada, Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah — to come up with a plan by today to collectively reduce the amount of water they draw from the Colorado. But the odds of such an agreement materializing appear slim, my colleague Christopher Flavelle reports.

The states all have a lot to lose. Water from the Colorado River is essential for drinking water in cities and farm irrigation in the countryside. The stakes are particularly high in California, which currently receives more water from the Colorado than any other state.


Read More at the NYT[/url

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New York investors snapping up Colorado River water rights, betting big on an increasingly scarce resource


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-investors-snapping-up-colorado-river-water-rights-betting-big-on-an-increasingly-scarce-resource/ via @CBSMornings

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

When the Colorado River reaches the U.S.-Mexico border, it pushes up against Morelos Dam. Nearly all the remaining water is shunted aside into an immense canal and flows toward the farmlands and cities of Baja California.
South of the dam, the last of the river disappears in the desert.

The sandy riverbed meanders on through fields of wheat, hay, cotton and vegetables, and curves past the town of San Luis Rio Colorado, where for years little or no water has flowed beneath its bridge.

Mexico is entitled to receive 1.5 million acre-feet of water per year under a 1944 treaty. But in recent agreements with the U.S., Mexico has also agreed to take part in reductions when there is a shortage.

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2023-01-31/colorado-river-in-crisis-the-rivers-end

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Endangered Spaces--Colorado River
The Dirtbag Diaries

After two decades of drought, the Colorado River, which supplies water for drinking, power, and agriculture to over 40 million people, was named America's most endangered river. In 2018, river advocates and paddlers Mike and Jenny Fiebig spent five months paddling the Colorado from its source in the Wind River mountains to the Gulf of Mexico to understand the river's challenges firsthand – while collecting stories about change from the people who depend on it most. Today, as the river faces unprecedented shortages from climate change and overconsumption – activists, indigenous leaders, water managers and scientists are working to find solutions to create an equitable future for the river and those who depend on it.  Support comes from Patagonia Athletic Greens Kuat Racks Global Rescue  Learn More American Rivers Water and Tribes Initiative Center for Colorado River Studies
Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dirtbag-diaries/id218290471



Sent from my iPhone

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Opinion  How to prevent a 'complete doomsday' along the Colorado River

Time is running out for the Colorado River. After more than two decades of drought fueled by climate change, the once-mighty waterway has seen its flow shrink by more than 20 percent. Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the nation's largest reservoirs, are about three-quarters empty. And forecasts for the future are even more dire: Officials warn that, if water levels continue to fall, the river could see a "complete doomsday scenario."


https://wapo.st/40TRvud

[Woolly Bugger]

After two decades of drought, the Colorado River, which supplies water for drinking, power, and agriculture to over 40 million people, was named America's most endangered river. In 2018, river advocates and paddlers Mike and Jenny Fiebig spent five months paddling the Colorado from its source in the Wind River mountains to the Gulf of Mexico to understand the river's challenges firsthand – while collecting stories about change from the people who depend on it most. Today, as the river faces unprecedented shortages from climate change and overconsumption – activists, indigenous leaders, water managers and scientists are working to find solutions to create an equitable future for the river and those who depend on it.


https://dirtbagdiaries.com/endangered-spaces-colorado-river/

[Woolly Bugger]

Raquel Welch, a Lifetime of Looks
From cave woman to "Woman of the Year," Ms. Welch defied expectations.

NYT Photo Essay

[trout-r-us]

Been hanging out in Tucson taking in some Spring Break college baseball, as the oldest grandson is now a senior and will soon be hanging up the cleats in preparation of joining the workforce. 🥲

With that said, it is becoming more common to see signs of water conservation in both private and public facilities in this water stressed area. Though it's encouraging, it appears they need to work harder on air quality if the ever-present haze over the desert is an indicator. I'm afraid the once clear views of the mountain ranges may be a thing of the past.

But at least the succulents seem to be thriving.

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Kansas Is Showing What a Drier Future Looks Like

There are no rivers running through northwest Kansas. But come spring, the region will turn green as farmers and ranchers pump water out of the vast Ogallala Aquifer that sprawls from north Texas to South Dakota. It took thousands of years for water to trickle into the aquifer. Now, thanks to over-pumping, some sections are running dry, and others will suffer the same fate in coming years and decades.

For northwest Kansas and other swaths of the plains states, the threat is existential. "If we exhaust our portion of the Ogallala, life in our part of Kansas is gone," said Shannon Kenyon, a government water manager in Colby, a town in western Kansas, during a recent phone call. "No ag. No towns. No nothing without it."

It's the other US water crisis, often overlooked in favor of the ongoing struggles over the shrinking Colorado River and the future of the desert Southwest. But the shortages in areas dependent on the Ogallala, regions that represent around 30% of irrigated US agriculture, are just as critical.

https://wapo.st/3JDKsPz

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The Colorado River Is Running Dry, but Nobody Wants to Talk About the Mud

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It's difficult to fathom how the Colorado River could possibly carve the mile-deep chasm that is the Grand Canyon. But if one thinks of the river as a flume of liquid sandpaper rubbing the land over millions of years, it begins to make sense. "The finest workers in stone are not copper or steel tools," Henry David Thoreau wrote, "but the gentle touches of air and water working at their leisure with a liberal allowance of time."

In 1963, humans stopped time, when the brand new Glen Canyon Dam on the Utah-Arizona border cut off the reddish sediment that naturally eroded the Grand Canyon. Today the river runs vodka clear from the base of the dam.


Rest of the story