Archive of posts filed under the water category.

The Endangered Species Act as a water management tool – case for the defense

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Here and elsewhere, I’ve been arguing lately that the Endangered Species Act has become the de-facto water management tool of choice (necessity?) in the western United States, but that it has shortcomings as both an environmental policy instrument and a water policy instrument. My thinking on this has been formed in large part by the …

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A bit of history – when US Colorado River water users feared Mexico

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There’s a tangent in Henry Brean’s Las Vegas Review-Journal story about desalination and Las Vegas this morning that provides a reminder of just how far we’ve come in the power structure surrounding the management of the Colorado River in the last century. The main thrust of the story is a discussion of the possibility of …

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Imperial Valley – What’s Plan B?

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Tony Perry has a nice take-out in the Los Angeles Times this weekend outlining the state of play in discussions over the fate of the Quantification Settlement Agreement and the water deal contained therein between the Imperial Irrigation District and San Diego. It does a good job of highlighting the dilemma – San Diego has …

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Q: What’s behind the Bay Delta Conservation Plan process?

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A: The Endangered Species Act A useful question came up on the Twitter last week about California’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan that’s nicely answered by a state legislative analysis I read this afternoon. The BDCP is a key part of  process underway now in California that seems to be headed toward creation of a Peripheral …

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There seems to be a lot of water in Lake Mead. Relatively speaking.

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With the latest monthly report from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, we now have end-of-water year numbers, and a chance to take stock. It’s been a terrific year for water supply on the Colorado River system: Lake Mead ended the year with a surface elevation of 1,116 feet above sea level, up 32 feet from …

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River Beat: Gray-Lee moves on, Fulp steps in

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Lorri Gray-Lee, who has headed the Bureau of Reclamation’s Boulder City office (the folks with that big dam) is heading to the Pacific Northwest, and Terry Fulp, her deputy, is stepping in as acting chief. This is one of the Bureau’s more important jobs, herding the Lower Colorado cats. Not exactly herding, even. Cajoling. Persuading. …

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Pinning down that “not Twain” quote

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Alex Breitler has done us all a useful service, not only debunking the Not Twain “Whiskey’s for drinkin’” quote but also pinning down, via Barbara Schmidt, where it first got attached to Twain: She believes, based on a Google Books search, that the quote probably was first attributed to Twain in the 1960s.    

“already contested issues”

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I had occasion this evening to revisit “Sensitivity of Streamflow in the Colorado Basin to Climatic Changes,” by Linda Nash and Peter Gleick, circa 1991: Water availability, quality, and demand may be affected by higher temperatures, new precipitation patterns, rising sea level, and changes in storm frequency and intensity. Water supply and water management in …

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