Archive of posts filed under the Colorado River category.

2015 puts Sierra Nevada-Colorado Basin linkage in stark relief

Posted by on

If you care about Colorado River Basin water, it behooves you to pay attention to the snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada. It’s an entirely different watershed, but 2015 demonstrated how the interconnections in California’s plumbing have left the two inextricably linked. The tl;dr version of two interrelated points below: California’s drought has put pressure on the Colorado …

Continue reading ‘2015 puts Sierra Nevada-Colorado Basin linkage in stark relief’ »

Sierra Madre, CA, introduces Colorado River water, winds up with “the Tucson problem”

Posted by on

Water is just water, right? What happened when Sierra Madre, a suburb northeast of Los Angeles, switched from local groundwater to imported Colorado River water is a reminder that, well, no: In 2013, Sierra Madre was forced to begin importing water from the Metropolitan Water District. That led to a new problem. The water source …

Continue reading ‘Sierra Madre, CA, introduces Colorado River water, winds up with “the Tucson problem”’ »

“More Slices Than Pie: Structural Deficit on the Colorado”

Posted by on

I’m not sure who came up with the “More Slices than Pie” title for the panel discussion I moderated Thursday at the annual meeting of the Colorado River Water Users Association, but it had a nice ring. A big thanks to Tom McCann from the Central Arizona Project for putting the panel together and inviting …

Continue reading ‘“More Slices Than Pie: Structural Deficit on the Colorado”’ »

New paper clarifies what satellite data is telling us about Colorado River Basin groundwater pumping

Posted by on

A paper out yesterday adds new detail to the picture provided by satellite groundwater observations of the Colorado River Basin, arguing that groundwater depletions from human pumping are not as large as suggested by previous research. The paper, Hydrologic implications of GRACE satellite data in the Colorado River Basin published in Water Resources Research (behind paywall, sorry), …

Continue reading ‘New paper clarifies what satellite data is telling us about Colorado River Basin groundwater pumping’ »

Is the Colorado River Basin half empty, or half full?

Posted by on

Preparing to moderate a panel at next week’s Colorado River Water Users Association annual meeting, I’m struck by the mix of good news and bad news on the river. 2015 water use across some major user groups is at record lows for the modern era, something that I don’t think gets enough attention. But Lake …

Continue reading ‘Is the Colorado River Basin half empty, or half full?’ »

The decline of Arizona cotton

Posted by on

Arizona cotton acreage this year is the lowest it has been in nearly a century. Cotton is incredibly important in the evolution of western water policy, in Arizona in particular and therefore in the Colorado River Basin in general. In Arizona, it was one of the “Three C’s” that dominated the state’s economy – cattle, …

Continue reading ‘The decline of Arizona cotton’ »

On this date in water history: Arizona governor, state senator, fisticuffs over the Colorado River

Posted by on

87 years ago today in Colorado River water management history, water apparently was for fightin’ over:   POLICE CALLED TO STOP BATTLE IN STATE HOUSE Affair Outcome of Argument Between Governor and Senator on River LIVELY MELEE HAS MANY PARTICIPANTS Gov. Hunt Declares Blow Received from Opponent Was “Purely Accidental” PHOENIX, Ariz., Nov. 26 – …

Continue reading ‘On this date in water history: Arizona governor, state senator, fisticuffs over the Colorado River’ »

A grim forecast for Colorado River Basin ag under climate change

Posted by on

Surface-water supply reductions (relative to current agricultural surface-water use) range from 20 percent to more than 75 percent across areas of the Mountain, Pacific, and Plains regions in 2080. The most severe declines occur in the middle and lower Colorado River Basin under virtually all scenarios, while other river systems with headwaters in the central …

Continue reading ‘A grim forecast for Colorado River Basin ag under climate change’ »

Five pieces of good news for water in the western United States

Posted by on

Amid the litany of the apocalypse, with the pictures of fallowed farm fields and dead fish and trees and cracked mud, here are five pieces of good news on western water, both on the supply side and on the demand side.   1. Colorado River Basin storage is up Total storage in the Colorado River …

Continue reading ‘Five pieces of good news for water in the western United States’ »