unlimited it's the water, stupid

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The Colorado River is drying up and scientists finally know what the mystery is
Concerns that reservoirs could reach deadpool levels in the next few years are very real, with water levels down 20 percent over the past century.

The Colorado River is one of the few perennial water supplies for some of the hottest and driest zones of the United States. It provides water for over 40 million people in its catchment area and five million acres of farmland in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming. Some areas, such Las Vegas, are almost entirely dependent on the river.

However, there is concern that the river is drying up. Water levels have been steadily declining and are currently 20 percent lower than they were 100 years ago.

"Climate change is reducing the flows of the Colorado significantly," says climate scientist Brad Udall. 40 million people in the booming Southwest rely on the river. But the demands and stress of a 22-year drought have the river in crisis. https://t.co/GWZz4jk1Gn pic.twitter.com/SlMMoGUoa2

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 24, 2021

The Colorado River Basin has been in an extended drought for the past two decades - a situation that has impacted vegetation, increased wildfire activity and caused water levels in major reservoirs such as Lake Powell and Lake Mead to drop down to levels never seen before, and the The long-term outlook isn't looking good.

The rivers feeding Lake Powell are running at under 50 percent of the April average, according to the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center. Projections for Lake Mead are even more alarming - it could reach its lowest point ever later this year.

So what has caused this? Temperatures in both the upper and lower basins of the river have climbed over the past quarter of a century. The last 25 years have been about 2°F warmer than the average for the 100 years and probably warmer than at any time in the past 2,000 years.

https://en.as.com/latest_news/the-colorado-river-is-drying-up-and-scientists-finally-know-what-the-mystery-is-n/

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A dry winter on the Colorado River has big reservoirs on track for trouble

If you took a look at a map of Rocky Mountain snow right now you would see a lot of red.

The mountains that feed the Colorado River with snowmelt are strikingly dry, with many ranges holding less than 50% of their average snow for this time of year. The low totals could spell trouble for the nation's largest reservoirs, but those dry conditions don't seem to be ringing alarm bells for Colorado River policymakers.

Inflows to Lake Powell, the nation's second largest reservoir, are expected to be 55% of average this year, according to federal data released this week. If forecasts hold true, 2025 would see the third-lowest amount of water added to Lake Powell in the past decade.

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https://www.kjzz.org/politics/2025-05-08/a-dry-winter-on-the-colorado-river-has-big-reservoirs-on-track-for-trouble

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Snow is melting rapidly in parts of the West. Here's why

The western U.S. is experiencing a late-season snow drought, according to an update Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Integrated Drought Information System. The diminished snowpack could result in water supply issues and increased wildfire risk in the coming months, the authors wrote.

Above-normal temperatures and a lack of precipitation in April and early May caused depletions even in basins where snow had piled up in prior months.

https://archive.ph/p0q6e

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The Colorado River is running low. The picture looks even worse underground, study says.
The Colorado River Basin has lost twice as much groundwater since 2003 as water taken out of its reservoirs, according to a study based on satellite data.

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The dwindling flow of the Colorado River has alarmed the American West for years, but the water losses happening underground are even worse, according to a new study that uses satellite data to measure groundwater supplies across the Colorado River Basin.

The research found that the region lost 27.8 million acre-feet of groundwater since 2003, roughly the same volume as the total capacity of Lake Mead — the nation's largest reservoir — and that the decline accelerated rapidly over the past decade. These groundwater losses accounted for more than twice the amount taken out of reservoirs in the region during that time.

"The picture of what's happening is pretty dire," said Jay Famiglietti, a professor at Arizona State University and the senior author on the study, published Tuesday in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.


http://archive.today/jbzPc

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Trump admin eyes Mojave Desert groundwater as potential source for arid Arizona
It is boosting a longtime political hot potato — pumping water from underneath the Mojave Desert.

 The situation on the Colorado River — the water supply for 40 million Westerners and half of all Californians — is dire. The waterway's flows have shrunk 20 percent since the turn of the century and climate scientists say it's not unreasonable to think that another 20 percent could be lost in the coming decades.

To cities, farmers, tribes and industries from Wyoming to Mexico — but especially in legally vulnerable Arizona — that looks like pain.

To the Los Angeles-based water company Cadiz Inc., that looks like opportunity.

After trying and failing for more than two decades to pump ancient groundwater from beneath the Mojave Desert and sell it to Southern California water districts, the controversial company has set its sights on new customers over the border in the Grand Canyon State.

"We are hopeful that our projects can support the Bureau's efforts to manage Colorado River resources and Lake Mead," Cadiz CEO Susan Kennedy (a former chief of staff to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger) said on Wednesday. Her pitch: There's up to 2.5 million acre-feet of untapped water in the Mojave Desert her company can move and store across the arid Southwest.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/18/facing-colorado-river-crunch-trump-admin-eyes-socal-groundwater-00414098

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The upset apple cart of the Colorado River


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The apple cart of the Colorado River has been upset for 25 years, and Doug Kenney and Becky Michell were on stage June 24 at the Crested Butte Public Policy Forum to talk about the bruised apples.

There's broad understanding that what worked in the past won't work in the future. As to what will work — ah, well, that has yet to be resolved. "So far, we haven't really been able to pull the demands down as quickly as supplies have been going down," said Mitchell.

Adding tension to the conversation is another so-so or worse spring runoff in the river. Despite a decent snow year in northern Colorado, yet another early, warm and mostly drier-than-usual spring has produced an anemic projected runoff of a little over 9 million acre-feet. Average runoff into Lake Powell has been 12 million in recent years. The compact governing the river between the three lower-basin states and the four upper basin states assumed at least 20.







https://bigpivots.com/the-upset-apple-cart-of-the-colorado-river/

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'We stand on the brink of system failure': Feds up pressure for states to reach deal on the future of the Colorado River


The clock is ticking for seven states to figure out how they'll share dwindling water in the Colorado River for the foreseeable future. The Salt Lake Tribune shares an update on the impending deal on what will happen with the Colorado River.

n a meeting at the Utah State Capitol on June 26, the river's four Upper Basin state commissioners further embraced the idea of a "divorce" with their Lower Basin neighbors — an idea also floated at a meeting in eastern Utah last week, as reported by Fox 13.

"Today we stand on the brink of system failure," said Becky Mitchell, the commissioner for Colorado. "We also stand on the precipice of a major decision point."

Despite a few wet winters, storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead — the nation's largest reservoirs — are teetering close to the dangerously low levels they hit in 2023.

Federal managers are preparing to repeat the emergency measures they took in 2022, like draining Flaming Gorge reservoir to prop up Lake Powell. The priority is to ensure the mega-reservoir stays full enough to continue releasing water to Lower Basin States and generating hydropower.

Meanwhile, the states that rely on the Colorado River for their water supply — Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California — are up against a 2026 deadline, when the current agreements on how to share the river lapse.

But negotiations between the four Upper Basin states, which includes Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico, have been in a standstill with the remaining three Lower Basin states for more than a year.

https://kion546.com/news/2025/07/23/we-stand-on-the-brink-of-system-failure-feds-up-pressure-for-states-to-reach-deal-on-the-future-of-the-colorado-river/

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Lake Powell continues to drop as Colorado River experiences 'unprecedented drought'
Lake Powell is projected to start 2026 roughly 33 feet lower than it did this year, according to the most recent forecast from the Bureau of Reclamation.

Families flocking to Lake Powell for summer vacations will find closed and less accessible boat ramps in the coming weeks.

Water levels continue to drop as "unprecedented drought" plagues the Colorado River Basin, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. The agency's latest 24-month study, released Friday, shows Lake Powell will most likely start next year 33 feet lower than it did this year.

The projected level for January 1, 2026 — 3,538.47 feet — keeps the lake at the "Mid-Elevation Release Tier" and the agency will again release 7.48 million acre-feet of water from Glen Canyon Dam next year. If conditions worsen, the agency may have to reduce water releases.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2025/08/16/lake-powell-water-levels-continue/

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White House scraps water expert's nomination as states hash out Colorado River plan

A veteran water expert from Arizona says the Trump administration withdrew his nomination to lead the federal agency that oversees water management in the western U.S., leaving the Bureau of Reclamation without permanent leadership this year.

Ted Cooke told The Associated Press late Wednesday that he was preparing for a Senate confirmation hearing early this month but his name was removed from the agenda. He wasn't told until this week that there was an unspecified issue with his background check. Cooke said the White House didn't offer any details and asked only that he withdraw himself from consideration.

"The real story here is that I've been sacrificed on the altar of political expediency because of party politics and maybe Colorado River basin intrigues," Cooke said, adding that he believes he was given a fabricated excuse "to avoid having any discussion on what the real issue is."

https://www.kjct8.com/2025/09/19/white-house-scraps-water-experts-nomination-states-hash-out-colorado-river-plan/

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Make 'immediate cuts' in water use or face crisis, Colorado River experts warn

The Colorado River system that Las Vegas relies on for life in the Mojave Desert is nearer to collapse than ever, a group of six researchers from across the basin warned in a new report.

Using a conservative approach that assumes 2026 could bring another dry winter, the authors posit a rocky future for the 40 million people whose water is the subject of intense negotiations between seven states. It's no longer a distant concern that Nevada, California and Arizona could suffer from water delivery issues due to constraints of dam infrastructure, they argue.

That is, unless more water conservation happens quickly, said Jack Schmidt, the lead author of the report and director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University.

"We are not predicting that Western civilization will be crippled to its knees a year from now, and we're not saying that the taps of Las Vegas and Phoenix will go dry," Schmidt said. "We're saying, below these levels that we speak about, the Bureau of Reclamation is on record saying it's going to get really complicated."

Lake Mead is 31 percent full and projected by water managers to drop below its 2022 historic low — a concerning outlook for the primary source of Southern Nevada's drinking water.

The Bureau of Reclamation previously has indicated that Lake Powell dipping under 3,490 feet could hinder the ability of water to flow downstream into Lake Mead. With meager projections, that is no longer out of the question.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/environment/make-immediate-cuts-in-water-use-or-face-crisis-colorado-river-experts-warn-3463022/amp/

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Utah may be forced to cut water rights if no Colorado River deal is reached


evin Cotner is familiar with the dreaded term "curtailment."

The Price-area hay farmer experiences it naturally as a result of the ongoing drought.

"The water's just not here," Cotner told FOX 13 News in an interview on Thursday.

He has volunteered to fallow some of his farms through a program administered by the Colorado River Authority of Utah. Since he lives along a tributary, he's being compensated to not grow crops on some fields for a couple of years.

"To us, it's a way to help, maybe, and get compensated," Cotner explained.



https://www.fox13now.com/news/colorado-river-collaborative/utah-will-be-forced-to-cut-water-rights-if-no-colorado-river-deal-is-reached