unlimited it's the water, stupid

[Woolly Bugger]

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/

[Woolly Bugger]

[Woolly Bugger]

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.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


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

[Woolly Bugger]

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

[Woolly Bugger]

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.

Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


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

[Woolly Bugger]

[Woolly Bugger]

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

[Woolly Bugger]

[Woolly Bugger]

The upset apple cart of the Colorado River


Guests are not allowed to view images in posts, please Register or Login


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/