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Source: https://www.theday.com/nation/202208...who-depend-on/
The West’s most important water supply is drying up. Soon, life for 40 million people who depend on the Colorado River will change
August 11, 2022 6:31 am
By Conrad Swanson, The Denver Post
PAGE, Ariz. — White sandstone cliffs create a ring around Lake Powell in contrast to the honey- and red-colored desert rock nearby. Evidence that water once, not all that long ago, filled America’s second-largest reservoir.
Fed by the Colorado River, Lake Powell, in south-central Utah, has seen wet years and dry years over the past two decades. Mostly dry years.
Buoys no longer bob, they tilt, sitting on dry sand. Beer cans, punctured pontoons and deck chairs litter miles of waterless lake bed.
The last time entire sections of Lake Powell were this dry, the place was actually called Glen Canyon. That was before the completion of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, which flooded the canyon and created the reservoir.
The reservoir’s water is receding because the Colorado River is drying. Climatologists aren’t sure when, or if, Powell will ever fill again. Rather, they expect conditions to worsen.
The chalky ring around Powell is just one sign of many that the 40 million people who directly depend on the Colorado River must fundamentally change their way of life, experts agree. And it’s going to hurt, experts say.
“This is not a drought, this is aridification,” Rhett Larson, a water law professor at Arizona State University, said. “This is not something we can wait out. This is not something we can survive. This is the new world we live in.”
That likely means less water for major cities like Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego. Higher electricity and grocery bills, too. Less swimming in reservoirs like Powell. Less boating, white water rafting, swimming. Fewer tourists.
The seven states relying on water from the Colorado River Basin are drawing too much. Hydrologists warned this would happen generations ago, though politicians and government officials failed to listen or decided not to.
“They knew this was a problem and they elected to kick the can down the road,” Brad Udall, water and climate scientist at Colorado State University, said. “They knew better and they did it anyway.”
Those seven states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — tapped into the river and unlocked the American West. But their agreement, the 1922 Colorado River Compact, eventually also steered the region toward disaster.
The framers of that compact overestimated the amount of water available, most experts agree. They imposed rigid standards and deadlines on one of the world’s wildest rivers. And they excluded dozens of Native American tribes from negotiating for their fair share...
The West’s most important water supply is drying up. Soon, life for 40 million people who depend on the Colorado River will change
August 11, 2022 6:31 am
By Conrad Swanson, The Denver Post
PAGE, Ariz. — White sandstone cliffs create a ring around Lake Powell in contrast to the honey- and red-colored desert rock nearby. Evidence that water once, not all that long ago, filled America’s second-largest reservoir.
Fed by the Colorado River, Lake Powell, in south-central Utah, has seen wet years and dry years over the past two decades. Mostly dry years.
Buoys no longer bob, they tilt, sitting on dry sand. Beer cans, punctured pontoons and deck chairs litter miles of waterless lake bed.
The last time entire sections of Lake Powell were this dry, the place was actually called Glen Canyon. That was before the completion of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, which flooded the canyon and created the reservoir.
The reservoir’s water is receding because the Colorado River is drying. Climatologists aren’t sure when, or if, Powell will ever fill again. Rather, they expect conditions to worsen.
The chalky ring around Powell is just one sign of many that the 40 million people who directly depend on the Colorado River must fundamentally change their way of life, experts agree. And it’s going to hurt, experts say.
“This is not a drought, this is aridification,” Rhett Larson, a water law professor at Arizona State University, said. “This is not something we can wait out. This is not something we can survive. This is the new world we live in.”
That likely means less water for major cities like Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Diego. Higher electricity and grocery bills, too. Less swimming in reservoirs like Powell. Less boating, white water rafting, swimming. Fewer tourists.
The seven states relying on water from the Colorado River Basin are drawing too much. Hydrologists warned this would happen generations ago, though politicians and government officials failed to listen or decided not to.
“They knew this was a problem and they elected to kick the can down the road,” Brad Udall, water and climate scientist at Colorado State University, said. “They knew better and they did it anyway.”
Those seven states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — tapped into the river and unlocked the American West. But their agreement, the 1922 Colorado River Compact, eventually also steered the region toward disaster.
The framers of that compact overestimated the amount of water available, most experts agree. They imposed rigid standards and deadlines on one of the world’s wildest rivers. And they excluded dozens of Native American tribes from negotiating for their fair share...