Colorado River providing for 40 million Americans drying up
2023.02.01 12:49
Colorado River providing for 40 million Americans drying up
By Ray Johnson
Budrigannews.com – In the midst of the worst drought in 12 centuries, exacerbated by climate change, the Colorado River, which supplies drinking water to 40 million people in seven states in the United States, is drying up, putting a strain on a water distribution agreement.
On Tuesday, California broke off from the six states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming in the face of a deadline set by the federal government for them to negotiate their own supply cuts or risk being forced to do so by the government.
“What happened today was a step forward,” said Environmental Defense Fund water policy specialist Kevin Moran.
According to Moran’s statement, “Six of the seven basin states are playing catch-up to reduce the use of water from the Colorado River, which is absolutely critical after 20 years of drought and the effects of climate change.”
It was anticipated that the river would be able to supply 20 million acre-feet of water annually when the states reached their agreement 100 years ago. Most people think that one acre-foot (1,233 cubic meters) of water is enough to supply two urban households annually.
However, the actual flow has decreased to an average of 12.5 million acre-feet over the past two decades, leaving state water managers with more rights on paper than supply.
California receives the most, with its $50 billion agricultural industry consuming 80% of it.
Its decision to withdraw from the agreement, according to many experts, increases the likelihood that the water dispute will be brought before the nation’s highest courts.
David Hayes, a professor at Stanford University Law School, stated:
“We have a situation where some of the water rights holders in California are saying, ‘We’re not willing to give up more water, and we think we have legal rights and we’re willing to go to court if we have to.'”
Hayes, a former top climate adviser to President Joe Biden, added, “And there’s not enough time to litigate these issues.”
He thought that drastic conservation efforts were needed to protect reservoirs from overuse and drought caused by climate change, which could threaten supply from the Hoover Dam to Las Vegas or California if left unchecked.
Seven atmospheric rivers dumped up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain on some parts of California late in December, but very little of it reached the Colorado River basin.
California will not be able to solve its long-term crisis without significant investments to capture more storm water, restore floodplains, and recycle wastewater, despite predictions of additional atmospheric rivers of increasing size and frequency.
The year 2000 to 2021 was the driest 22-year period for southwestern North America in at least 1,200 years, according to a report published in Nature last year.
Sharon Megdal, director of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona, stated, “Something will have to give,” as the state lacks the capacity to store runoff, mountain snows melt faster in the spring, and temperatures rise.
She added that the six states’ signatures on a letter demonstrated that they all agreed that the Colorado River and deliveries from it required new procedures.
Megdal stated:
“I think people would like to believe that we can somehow figure out a way to keep these economic activities, keep our kind of economies, and keep our livelihoods”
