what is happening with the colorado river

For the most part, theres less snowpack in the mountains that provide snowmelt to the Colorado River. He's an investigative reporter focusing on the environment at ProPublica. What Is Happening With The Colorado River Drought Plans? This seems to be a clash between the right to live wherever you want and the fact that California grows an awful lot of food we eat. It was barely 11 a.m. and Ramirez had many more stops to make on the hilly, grey fringes of Tijuana, a sprawling, industrial border city in northwestern Mexico where trucks or pipas like Ramirez's provide the only drinking water for many people. And in extreme cases, this was resulting in landowners in ranches across the upper basin actually spilling water onto the ground, taking it out of the system and spilling it, because it would ultimately protect their long-term water rights. You have the cultural impact of what that would mean to those communities. Waylon Wuertz: Yeah, kinda the-- the lifeline of our-- irrigated ag here. DAVIES: Right. As Colorado River reservoirs drop, states urged to 'act now' - Los Snowmobiling in Colorado's backcountry. And that's where the Farm Bill comes in, you know, maybe with good intentions, but it's an overwhelmingly large bureaucracy with some obvious faults as well. 2021 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. And ultimately, they're governed by each state independently. Photo by Josef Grunig/Flickr. DAVIES: So let's talk about what needs to change, what might happen. Every year its the same. Slow things are not as dramatic, dont catch attention. 4,343. It follows the first-ever federal shortage declaration on the Colorado. Amusement & Theme Parks. The river runs more than 1,400 miles, from headwaters in the Rockies to its delta in northern Mexico where it ends in a trickle. So you know, California will - as things get worse, California will, by that agreement, have to offer up more water. Cave of the Winds Mountain Park. 'Cause the only lever we control right now in the river is the demand lever. However, since the Southwest has been plagued by drought for the past ten years, the Colorado River has been particularly low. They can't work. The. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Scientific American, Wired, Salon and Esquire, among other publications. (Luke Runyon/KUNC) 2. Brad Udall: Well, it's a signal of the long-term problem we've been seeing since the year 2000, which is climate change is reducing the flows of the Colorado significantly. That means less water for 40 million people. I'm thinking mainly of alfalfa and then of grasses for grazing. The Colorado River Is in Crisis | Action for Drought and Heat ABRAHM LUSTGARTEN: Oh, yeah. For now, we have enough water. Most times, rafting trips start smoothly when rafters are pushed off the upstream launch ramp. Climate change is shrinking the Colorado River - SOURCE So they're trying to portray the potential for progress. LUSTGARTEN: (Laughter) So without a doubt, it's a short-term fix. Bill Whitaker: So it drops so low that it may not be able to generate--, Brad Udall: It may not be able to generate power--. LUSTGARTEN: Yeah, that's right. New Colorado river water sharing deal : NPR Edited by John Woo. More than 90% of Tijuana's water comes from the Colorado River, traveling west across Baja California and over a 4,000-foot (1,219 meter) mountain pass through a single aqueduct that itself is . ACTIVITIES: Whitewater Rafting near Breckenridge, Colorado. This is FRESH AIR. And if you take a step back and you put aside for a moment, you know, those - the independent streak of the West and those separate state interests you mentioned, there's a logical, you know, need for - there's a logical argument for a national water policy. What is happening is the practice of paying some of those ranchers not to use their water and agreeing, in exchange for that payment, to preserve their water rights, that the water is, quote-unquote, used but it's used by putting it into storage, say, in Lake Mead, which increases the supply for the overall system. Desalinization requires an extraordinary amount of energy and then would require pipelines from the coast - maybe, you know, the Gulf of California - to distribute that water back northward, you know, over the Colorado River basin states. Accessing water there is a daily struggle and an expensive one, as trucked-in water usually costs much more than what people connected to the city pay. Its unlikely that the states are going to come to a mutual agreement here, and California looks like its going to be the most unlikely to agree. But, you know, one of the things that, you know, my sources groan about at the moment is that this hasn't been recognized as the even greater, you know, national emergency that it is, whether that's, you know, part of the argument for a national water policy or simply, you know, recognizing that, you know, when it comes to climate change, perhaps after cutting emissions of carbon dioxide, regulating or addressing the, you know, the country's overarching water scarcity concerns, you know, should be a top priority or should be the next priority. Part of the water law that's pervasive across the West and especially in the upper basin, which includes Colorado, is a stipulation that your water rights are protected so long as you use them. And it's not coming up again now. HORSLEY: Thats true. The move comes as the American West faces unprecedented challenges to preserve water that continues to recede rapidly. But it takes more than 2/3rds of the Colorado River to produce the bounty. So it wouldn't generate any electricity at all in that case? Accuracy and availability may vary. Zach Renstrom: Utah wants the right to do what every other basin state has done. And it's just, you know, become a bit of an intractable problem. Amelia Flores is chairwoman of The Colorado River Indian Tribes, a reservation of four tribes a few hours west of Phoenix, with the oldest and largest water rights in Arizona. Its obviously not essential, especially in a critical situation like this. We've over-allocated it, and we now need to think about how to turn some of this back. The federal government has officially declared the. Flores told us until this drought, tribes were never included in water negotiations. But also, because they've been so far spared, the state's really, you know, the next on the chopping block politically. That's incredibly complicated, but it's also something that's working. You know, so once the - you know, the establishment of that Western agricultural culture, you know, was cemented, then, you know, we - there's always been pressure to support those communities, support the culture of farming in the West, and support the function that it serves in providing food for the rest of the country. Some of these places are using about three times as much water per capita than we are in the Northeast, and I would argue that a lot of that is for nonessential uses. DAVIES: Sounds like the kind of thing where, you know, a presidential intervention might be warranted. For Part 1, Lake Mead, the reservoir created by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado, is now at just 25% of its capacity. Those arent bad ideas if you have extra water that you can bring there without impacting others. And again, during the last 20 years when theyve been having drought conditions and climate change is becoming more evident, theyre still building new subdivisions, developing more properties, creating more demand. A person walks past a formerly sunken boat on a now-dry section of lakebed at Lake Mead, the country . If you need help with the Public File, call (713) 778-4745. The lower states use just about all their allotment and it's fed their tremendous growth. LUSTGARTEN: So California is the single largest holder of water rights from the Colorado River. GAZETTE: And were not talking here just about lawns and swimming pools in the desert, right? These reservoirs are now being sucked dry by 40 million different straws - that's the number of people in booming western states who depend on the Colorado to quench their thirst, power their homes, water lawns and splash in the sun. GAZETTE: Are there higher stakes here? Five states Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Nevada are done. Bill Whitaker: This is Colorado River water? What Is Happening With The Colorado River Drought Plans? There should probably be increased agricultural activity in the parts of the country that have ample water supply to the extent that that's possible. What Is Happening With The Colorado River Drought Plans? HORSLEY: The climate change stuff is tricky. We'll be back to talk more after a short break. And the states have agreed to a tiered system of voluntary cuts. HORSLEY: Actually, I think those are major drivers. LOCATION: Silverthorne, CO VIEW MAP. Where it will end up, I dont know. And there's been all sorts of stories of old towns uncovered, boats that had long ago sunk uncovered and even dead bodies, murders in the Las Vegas area, people who had been, you know, disposed of in the reservoir suddenly coming back above the waterline. There was also the issue, last time we spoke, of cotton being grown in Arizona, which, at the time, didn't - there wasn't a great market for it. Late last month, the states belonging to the compact missed a federal deadline to come up with an agreement to make water use meet the rivers declining capacity, leaving the decision in the hands of the federal Bureau of Reclamation. How much - how big were those reductions? But essentially, yes, if you were to follow the compact, thats what would happen. The stressors are slow-moving too: climate change, development in the watersheds, and changes in the water demand. Engineered by Sophia Lanman and David Mason. Each time, it gets farther and farther where we have to go, he said, blaming the city's water problems on drought and population growth, before jumping into the driver's seat next to 16-year-old assistant Daniel Alvarez. That might be, you know, a way to have federal authority that isn't just focused on, you know, Western water infrastructure, which is a lot of what the Department of Interior does, but can consider, you know, the - you know, equal distribution of resources in the Great Lakes, for example, or the rivers on the East Coast, or consider the broader implications for food supplies. Tasting tour at Fort Collins' New Belgium Brewing Company. And-- this next year it's probably gonna drop down to about 20% of the water that we use. We don't have problems at the moment, Amador said. Waylon Wuertz: Pinal County alone, we're gonna be losing 300,000 acre feet of surface water. Hamby says California's Imperial Valley farms have cut water usage almost 20% since 2003, but points out as the population of St. George, Utah grows, so does its water use. It seems - you know, when you consider all the - you know, the demands for government services that are out there for all kinds of things, it seems a little inequitable to be paying people not to use water that they don't need, doesn't it? The Colorado's flow has already declined by nearly 20 percent, on average, from its flow throughout the 1900s, and if the current rate of warming continues, the loss could well be 50 percent by . And it's an example of extraordinary, you know, water use that goes to a very small segment, you know, of society and meets a - you know, a very small purpose. 17 Best Things to Do in Colorado| Colorado.com The podcast Parched, from Colorado Public Radio . In some places, where those water supplies overlap, pulling groundwater can literally suck water out of the river that is unregulated. Its also an opportunity. HORSLEY: Education, peer pressure, prices, and regulation are the drivers. And an incredible amount of water is lost from both reservoirs just from evaporation. The Dolores River in southwestern Colorado has gushed this spring, flowing in excess of 3,000 cubic feet thanks to strong snowpack, up from about 7 cubic feet. DURATION: 1/3 Day. Colorado River Drought Affecting Rafting Trips | Thrilling Rapids Metro Boston has done a lot of good conserving work were down around 45 but these guys are at about three times that. 1. People In Arizona Are About To Face The West's First Major Water Crisis. LUSTGARTEN: I have never heard my sources in the federal government that govern western water talk about this concern explicitly or even talk about, you know, sort of the political, you know, consequences of, you know, greater federal action as an explicit reason for slowing down action. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. ProPublica's Abrahm Lustgarten says that water scarcity in the West hasn't been recognized as the national emergency that it is. It barely flows most years, since . If you simply let that water flow down and fill up the reservoir at Lake Mead, you'd get less evaporation and less leakage. Coming up, Kevin Whitehead reviews the recording of a live solo concert by pianist Mal Waldron in 1978 that's being released for the first time. DAVIES: So if agriculture changes dramatically, if California is forced to grow less, what does that mean for the balance of the - you know, the nation's food supply? And so they are ranked on a seniority basis. They came in early on and put a huge demand on the river. Bill Whitaker: I can see the bathtub rings around here too. In 2021, federal reservoirs in the Upper Basin released water to bolster Lake Powell, management that frustrated many local stakeholders when their river rafting and recreation seasonand the businesses it supportsended abruptly. Waylon Wuertz: It's been close to 50% of the water that we've used to-- to farm here. More than 90% of Tijuana's water comes from the Colorado River, traveling west across Baja California and over a 4,000-foot (1,219 meter) mountain pass through a single aqueduct that itself is often under repair. It will work differently in different places with different people. In charge of running the water utility in Tijuana is Victor Amador, who, despite the daily struggles for water in the city, denied that taps run dry except when work is being done on the pipes. Waylon Wuertz farms 500 acres in Pinal County, south of Phoenix. Bill Whitaker: And what percentage of your water is supplied by this canal? This summer, officials of the U.S. GAZETTE: And what were talking about is the Colorado River Compacts method of allocating rights. Zach Renstrom: We're trying to keep every drop of water we can into this reservoir for next year's drinking water. See Colorado's National Parks. I hope we'll have enough water to plant it in the future. And, you know, it's both a source of fascination for me and, you know, a part of the country that's incredibly important to me. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Today he analyzes the impact of climate change on water resources. Lawn irrigation is a large water demand in climates with year-round growing seasons. The water available during times of acute need, but counted against Mexico's share of Colorado River water traveled through Southern California's behemoth aqueducts and across the U.S.-Mexico border. JB Hamby: I think what we all need to have is a reality check, here, and recognize that we live in an era of limits right now and that's not going away anytime soon.
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