{"id":36800,"date":"2022-12-13T10:25:44","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T17:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-river-water-users-convening-amid-crisis-concerns\/"},"modified":"2022-12-13T17:25:44","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T17:25:44","slug":"colorado-river-water-users-convening-amid-crisis-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-river-water-users-convening-amid-crisis-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado River water users convening amid crisis concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A buoy sits high and dry on cracked earth previously under the waters of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Boulder City, Nev., on June 28, 2022. Living with less water in the Southwest is the focus for a conference starting Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in Las Vegas, about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River. (AP Photo\/John Locher, File)<\/span>John Locher<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

LAS VEGAS \u2013 Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus this week for state and federal water administrators, tribal officials, farmers, academics and business representatives meeting about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River.<\/p>\n

The Colorado River Water Users Association<\/a> conference, normally a largely academic three-day affair, comes at a time of growing concern<\/a> about the river\u2019s future after more than two decades of record drought attributed to climate change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Colorado River system is in a very dire condition,\u201d Dan Bunk, a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water manager, declared during internet presentations streamed Nov. 29 and Dec. 2<\/a> that invited public comment about possible actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cFlows during the past 23-year period \u2026 are the lowest in the past 120 years and (among) the lowest in more than 1,200 years,\u201d Bunk told the webinar audience. The deadline for public submissions is Dec. 20 for a process expected to yield a final report by summer.<\/p>\n

Bunk said the two largest reservoirs on the river \u2013 Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam on the Nevada-Arizona state line and Lake Powell formed by the Glen Canyon Dam on the Arizona-Utah line \u2013 are at unprecedented low levels. Lake Mead was at 100% capacity in mid-1999. Today it is 28% full. Lake Powell, last full in June 1980, is at 25%.<\/p>\n

Scientists attribute extended drought to warmer and drier weather in the West to long-term, human-caused climate change. The effect has been dramatic on a vast river basin where the math never added up: The amount of water it receives doesn\u2019t meet the amount that is promised<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lake Powell\u2019s drop last March to historically low water levels<\/a> raised worries about losing the ability \u2013 perhaps within the next few months \u2013 to produce hydropower that today serves about 5 million customers in seven states. If power production ceases<\/a> at Glen Canyon Dam, rural electric cooperatives, cities and tribal utilities would be forced to seek more expensive options.<\/p>\n

Reclamation water managers responded with plans to hold back more water<\/a> in Lake Powell but warned that Lake Mead water levels would drop.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, bodies have surfaced as Lake Mead\u2019s shoreline recedes, including the corpse of a man who authorities say was shot, maybe in the 1970s, and stuffed in a barrel. He remains unidentified. The gruesome discoveries renewed interest in the lore of organized crime<\/a> and the early days of the Las Vegas Strip, just a 30-minute drive from the lake.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in June told the seven states that are part of the Colorado River Basin \u2013 Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming \u2013 to determine how to use at least 15% less water<\/a> next year, or have restrictions imposed on them. Despite deadlines, discussions have not resulted in agreements.<\/p>\n

Bureau officials use the image of pouring tea from one cup to another to describe how water from Rocky Mountain snowmelt is captured in Lake Powell, then released downriver through the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead. About 70% is allocated for irrigation, sustaining a $15 billion-a-year agricultural industry that supplies 90% of U.S. winter vegetables.<\/p>\n

The two lakes, combined, were at 92% capacity in 1999, Bunk noted. Today, they are at 26%.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to critically low current reservoir conditions, and the potential for worsening drought which threatens critical infrastructure and public health and safety \u2026 operational strategies must be revisited,\u201d Bunk said.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s meeting of water recipients begins Wednesday at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. The event theme, \u201cA New Century for the Colorado River Compact,\u201d marks 100 years since a 1922 interstate agreement divvied water shares among interests in the seven states now home to 40 million people and millions of farmed acres.<\/p>\n

Agricultural interests got the biggest share. Native American tribes weren\u2019t included and were referenced in one sentence: \u201cNothing in this compact shall be construed as affecting the obligations of the United States of America to Indian tribes.\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until 1944 that a separate agreement promised a share of water to Mexico.<\/p>\n

Today, tribes are at the table and a Mexico delegation is due to attend the conference. U.S. cities that receive river water include Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego.<\/p>\n

Many call conservation crucial. Among conference topic titles are<\/a> \u201cMessaging in a More Water-Challenged World\u201d and \u201cThe Next 100 Years Begins Now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ongoing drought is a stark reminder that water conservation is not just smart planning but an absolute necessity to save the life of the Colorado River,\u201d said Amelia Flores, chairwoman of Colorado River Indian Tribes.<\/p>\n

The tribal reservation in Western Arizona includes more than 110 miles (177 kilometers) of Colorado River shoreline.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s fallowing fields, upgrading irrigation canals, or modernizing farming methods,\u201d Flores said, \u201cdecisions made now will have lasting consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the river basin, warnings have increased<\/a> and measures have tightened markedly in 2022.<\/p>\n

In April, water administrators in Southern California imposed a one-day-a-week outdoor watering limit<\/a> on more than 6 million people.<\/p>\n

Last month, 30 agencies that supply water to homes and businesses throughout the region joined the Las Vegas area in restricting the planting of decorative lawns<\/a> that no one walks on.<\/p>\n

Adel Hagekhalil, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California general manager, warned this month in a statement that another dry winter could force officials to make voluntary measures mandatory.<\/p>\n

The four states at the headwaters of the river \u2013 Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming \u2013 also recently announced they plan to ask Congress<\/a> to let them use federal money through 2026 for a program dubbed \u201cstrategic conservation.\u201d It would resurrect a 2015 to 2018 pilot program<\/a> that paid farmers to fallow land to cut water use.<\/p>\n

Camille Touton, bureau commissioner, tempered a warning during the water webinars about federal intervention \u2013 she called it \u201cmoving forward on the initiation of administrative actions\u201d \u2013 with a vow to \u201cfind a collective solution to the challenges that we face today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Touton and two top Interior Department officials are scheduled to address the conference on Friday.<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalists Brittany Peterson in Denver, Sam Metz in Salt Lake City and Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Joe
Joe Bernal walks on his family's farm on Sept. 1, 2022, in Fruita, Colo. Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus for a conference starting Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in Las Vegas, about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River. (Hugh Carey\/The Colorado Sun via AP, File)<\/span>Hugh Carey<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Water
Water from the Colorado River diverted through the Central Arizona Project fills an irrigation canal on Aug. 18, 2022, in Maricopa, Ariz. Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus for a conference starting Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in Las Vegas about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River. (AP Photo\/Matt York, File)<\/span>Matt York<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The Colorado River flows through the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai reservation on Aug. 15, 2022, in northwestern Arizona. Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus for a conference starting Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in Las Vegas, about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River. (AP Photo\/John Locher, File)<\/span>John Locher<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A formerly sunken boat sits upright into the air with its stern stuck in the mud along the shoreline of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area on June 10, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus for a conference starting Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022, in Las Vegas, about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River. (AP Photo\/John Locher, File)<\/span>John Locher<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts say system is in \u2018dire condition\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,1462,28,138,295,294],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-river","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico","tag-water","tag-water-supply"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36800"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}