Colorado River Outlook Darkens Dramatically in New Study...
In the gloomiest long-term forecast yet for the drought-stricken Colorado River, a new study warns that lower river basin states including Arizona may have to slash their take from the river up to 40% by the 2050s to keep reservoirs from falling too low.
Climate's toll on the Colorado River: 'We can weather maybe a couple of years'
The warming climate is intensifying drought, contributing to fires and drying out the river's headwaters, sending consequences cascading downstream…..
Rivers, clean air, imperiled species: How Trump's environmental rollbacks affect Arizona
“Environmentalists are worried the Trump change puts Arizona’s rivers and streams at risk of widespread degradation. They’re also concerned state officials may not propose strong enough rules to fill the gaps left behind by the rollback.”
Brian Richter: “Struggling for Sustainability on the Colorado River"
“These numbers and trends suggest that we’re still a long way from balancing the water budget of the Colorado River; my latest calculations suggest that we’re using 17% more water than the river produces, on average. Unless we start to substantially and quickly reduce our draw from the river, things will almost certainly worsen under a warming climate that will reduce the flow of water in the river.”
Spreading The Word On The Arizona Water Blueprint
“Democratizing” water knowledge certainly is the goal of its designers, who conducted a seminar this week on its many uses for Arizona Department of Water Resources staff.
“We want to make sure that anybody who wants to use the Blueprint can get an idea of water resources in a given area with it,” said Susan Craig, water-policy analyst for Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy at the Morrison Institute.
Beef Consumption Hurting Water Quality
“Non-Soon” Version 2.0 Has Arrived And It’s Bigger, Hotter And Drier Than Ever
As it turned out, though, neither the cooler nor the warmer SSTs appear to be to blame for the 2020 “non-soon,” which has contributed to record July heat. Rather, this year’s moisture-thief is a high-pressure dome that settled remorselessly atop the Southwest throughout the summer months so far.
“Typically, high pressure will oscillate from northern Mexico into the Four Corners and even northern (Utah and Colorado) through the summer,” said O’Malley. That northward expansion of high pressure allows the thicker moisture to surge north periodically into Arizona.
But this year? “Persistent low pressure along the West Coast has kept the high situated more often in southern Arizona and New Mexico,” said the NWS forecaster. As a result, “the best moisture has been trapped in northern Mexico.”
"Day Zero for the Colorado River" by Brian Richter
“America’s two largest reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell on the Colorado River — could both run of out water in just five years.
I really wish this was an April Fool’s joke. But instead, it’s a conclusion I came to after being asked by one of my University of Virginia students, “What would happen to those reservoirs if they had another bad string of really dry years?”
My distressing conclusion is based on the fact that in five short years, from 2000-2004, the two big reservoirs lost HALF of their capacity, due to heavy water extractions during a very dry string of years. When another string of dry years inevitably comes along, the water in the reservoirs will be gone.”
Sustainable Waters: Pay the Farmers Now
“There is a clear, immediately-available, well-proven option available to stave off catastrophic water crises in the West, it’s quite affordable, and there are thousands of farmers and ranchers ready and willing to implement it –> pay the farmers to temporarily fallow some portion of their farmland.”