We will know in a little more than a month whether Lake Mead will get a flush of “bonus water” this year, and if so how much, thanks to the better-than-average snow pack in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Right now, things look good. Current snow levels, as measured by the network of federally funded …
Reorganizing photo archives as I move to a new computer, I came across this, from a fall 2009 trip to Phoenix. Tempe Town Lake, in the words of its boosters… embodies a unique vision for the future of the Valley. Town Lake is a regional and national destination, welcoming millions each year. Recognized as a top …
U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is reported to have said in a talk this morning (Thurs. 2/24) in Washington D.C. that he believes the ongoing drought on the Colorado River could be the spark to shift conservative political opinion on climate change. From the Las Vegas Sun: In comments he delivered at a symposium hosted …
Continue reading ‘Will an Empty Lake Mead Sell Skeptics on the Reality of Climate Change?’ »
Doug Kenney, the University of Colorado law school guy who is going bold in his push toward Colorado River management solutions, has a Denver Post op-ed this morning that looks toward innovative solutions that, importantly, work the problem without requiring us to tear up the Colorado River Compact: If dry conditions continue as predicted, the …
Continue reading ‘Kenney on How to Fix Our River Management System’ »
Via the satellite data analysis folks at Chelys, a view of what used to be called the “Colorado River delta”, which is now one of the great winter vegetable growing regions of North America. That’s the Salton Sea top left, the Imperial Valley and Calexico farming regions in the center, and the Gila and Colorado …
If all goes well weather wise over the next six weeks, the US Bureau of Reclamation will release a substantial slug of extra water in 2011 to help refill Lake Mead. Thanks to a decent snow pack, there is currently a 71 percent chance that the big reservoirs on the Colorado, Mead and Powell, will …
Continue reading ‘River Beat: Yo, Vegas – Bonus Water on the Way!’ »
A new Stockholm Environmental Institute analysis of water supply and demand in the Southwestern United States suggests we’re screwed. In the U.S. Southwest – Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah – there is less rain and snowfall each year than the amount of water used in the region. Today that shortfall is made up …
Forecast flow on the Colorado River as a whole and major tributaries is down. I was otherwise occupied yesterday and missed the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center’s monthly briefing, but Kevin Werner has posted his slides. Some high points: January, as you can see from the accompanying image, was remarkably dry across the basin, a …
The bemused Brits at the Economist paid Pat Mulroy a visit: The main reason why Lake Mead, currently only 40% full, has been getting emptier is a decade-long drought. Whether this is a cyclical and normal event, or an early sign of climate change, is unclear. But even if the drought ends, most scientists think …
Continue reading ‘Having to rip out your lawn is not the worst thing that can happen’ »
From this morning’s newspaper, a look at the implications of Santa Fe and Albuquerque shifting from groundwater to surface water imported from the Colorado River Basin (sub/ad req): For 40 years, San Juan-Chama water has been added to the Rio Grande. You could think of it as “bonus water,” and its loss should in theory …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I Wrote Elsewhere: The Changing Ways New Mexico Manages its Water’ »