top five consumers of colorado river water top five consumers of colorado river water
The reality is we have an overallocated river, said Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the largest water supplier in the country. Arizona, California, and Nevada combined to consume just over 6.5 million acre-feet last year, according to an annual audit from the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that oversees the lower basin. David Morris, the water utility spokesman for the city and county, said the Colorado River water has allowed the region to wean itself off of unsustainable groundwater pumping. Why is the river drying up? Those who grow alfalfa in Southern Californias Imperial and Coachella valleys would keep their water before people in parts of Los Angeles. The Colorado River Compact was signed in 1922 just 10 years after New Mexico became a state. The situation has been compared to the energy markets of the late 1990s, in which firms like Enron made money from shortages (some of which, it turned out, traders engineered themselves). In a general, larger picture, its a national park, and the way the river was before the dam came in has changed a lot, Tusso said. Sprinklers deliver vital Colorado River water to a field of celery in California's Imperial Valley. The Biden administration is pushing to cut 2 to 4 million acre-feet in water usage, and is in negotiations with the seven states affected. Instruct the economists to record Whether its fallowing fields, upgrading irrigation canals, or modernizing farming methods, Flores said, decisions made now will have lasting consequences.. According to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Lake Mead will rise from 1,047 feet on Monday to 1,048 feet by Sunday. "The reality is, we'll probably be taking more of our summers off. But the basins water is essential for the states largest city: Albuquerque. Many experts see its decision to sit out the agreement as fuelling the chances that the water fight will end up in the nation's highest courts. Almonds and Walnuts According to a UNESCO Institute for Water Education study, shelled almonds and walnuts were among the top three most water-intensive foods. Hay, corn, wheat, sorghum, and millet are the top five. One of the things I think weve learned over time is that a resource like water is best allocated through kind of a combination of market forces and regulatory oversight., He added, The market would say water is far more valuable serving urban populations.. EL CENTRO, Calif. A few hundred farms in the southern tip of California, along the Mexican border, may hold the key to saving the drought-plagued Colorado River from collapse. And with the worst drought in 1,500 years parching the region, water anxiety is at an all-time high. . hide caption. If severe, extreme drought conditions continued, then its easier for them to sell additional cuts, said Michael J. Cohen, a senior researcher with the Pacific Institute and an expert on the Colorado River. T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman who died in 2019, was an early evangelist of water buys. It will be baled into hay and fed to cattle such as those in the feedlot at the far end of the field. My fear is that the speculators are going to break it. It wasnt just the drought: Californias crops had shifted from low-value seasonal vegetables like lettuce and bell peppers to permanent non-staples, like almonds, that were so valuable that it was no longer economical for farmers to sell water to cities, even as prices spiked. The water tower in El Centro, the county seat of Imperial County, notes a geographic fact that shapes this area's destiny. In 2003, under pressure from the federal government, IID agreed to transfer about 10 percent of its total allotment of water each year to San Diego and another neighboring water district. Many call conservation crucial. (Photos: U.S. Geological Survey/Willie Taylor) Lake Mead is now projected to rise 33 feet higher than expected this year . Bunk said the two largest reservoirs on the river 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 are at unprecedented low levels. As of Wednesday morning, the surge of water released from the Glen Canyon Dam has reached Lake Mead, KTLA's sister station KLAS reports. A combination of chronic water overuse and historic drought conditions are creating chaos. As a result, water has turned into a financialized product like what happened to energy in the late 1990s, he said. An acre-foot (1,233 cubic meters) of water is generally considered enough to supply two urban households per year. Researchers at the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center in Farmington, N.M., works with alfalfa on July 22, 2020. Farmland meets the desert, separated by an irrigation canal, near Fruita, Colo.CreditNick Cote for The New York Times. The water level in Lake Powell has fallen about a foot this year and stands 33 feet above the threshold where Glen Canyon Dam could no longer produce power. Nor is it official policy yet. You know, we in the water business have done a great job of saying, Waters the next oil, youve got to watch out, its going to be so valuable, he added. "We have the laws in place, you know, when water comes anywhere west of the Mississippi, it's first-come, first-served, and that's how it's always been," he says. It's about the future of the whole valley. Felt said. At the edges of Lake Mead, the Nation's largest reservoir, a "bathtub ring" of mineral deposits approximately 100 ft. high shows the drop in water level after years of drought along the Colorado River. LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Lake Mead will be one foot higher by the end of the week after the release of water from Glen Canyon into the Colorado River. Its pretty tough right now.. Ron DeSantis, finding no legal basis for allegations that the governor violated campaign finance laws with a shadow run for the White House, North Carolina's attorney general is urging lawmakers to adopt several crime prevention proposals to tackle gun violence, the opioid crisis and the state's backlog of sexual assault cases, The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says the bodies of seven people have been discovered during the search for two missing teenagers. Mr. "What happened today was a step forward," said Kevin Moran, a water policy specialist at the Environmental Defense Fund. These fields owe their existence to fortune-seeking land speculators and engineers who, starting in 1901, dug a canal to bring water to this valley from the Colorado River. My kids'll be happy.". The Colorado River basin has experienced three D4 droughts in the past 20 years, including the current one. Im optimistic that were going to sort through some of these more sticky problems with a good collaborative solution, Hamman said. "And there's not enough time to litigate these issues," added Hayes, a former top climate aide to President Joe Biden. But Mr. Eklund denies that the firm is flipping water rights. The water tower in El Centro, the county seat of Imperial County, notes a geographic fact that shapes this area's destiny. This scene is unlikely to last, though. Stay informed daily on the latest news and advice on COVID-19 from the editors at U.S. News & World Report. 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. Cities use roughly 20% of the Colorado River's water, while agriculture uses approximately 80%. The Colorado River empties into the Gulf of California. Rechanneling water from rural areas to thirsty growth spots like Queen Creek has long been handled by municipal water managers and utilities, but investors adept at sniffing out undervalued assets sense an opportunity. Updated: Apr 26, 2023 / 01:55 PM PDT. State Engineer Mike Hamman, New Mexicos top water manager, said the state really feels the shortages because it doesnt have the big reservoirs of other states in the Colorado River Basin. Cibola, Ariz., is one of the wrong places. Due to critically low current reservoir conditions, and the potential for worsening drought which threatens critical infrastructure and public health and safety operational strategies must be revisited, Bunk said. The Western model is a sort of comprehensive, consensus-based public discussion, and its worked very well, said Bruce Babbitt, a former governor of Arizona and secretary of the interior during the Clinton administration. Demand management, as the policy is known, is an attempt to solve the so-called wrong places problem and free up water from agriculture and reroute it to urban uses and conservation. According to water-policy professionals I spoke to, investors are already lobbying for it. On a map, this is the very top of the Gulf of California. Agriculture uses some 80 percent of the rivers water and also tends to have the most senior rights, some dating back to the 19th century. But they will also be looking at rebalancing water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead, two federally owned reservoirs that hold water to use in case of extreme drought. Steve Benson, managing partner of Benson Farms, points out a neighbor's field where a crew is planting lettuce. As reservoir levels drop, the document suggests California, which has rights to 4.4 million acre-feet of water, would need to cut more than 1 million acre-feet. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. As Colorados water commissioner, he piloted a demand-management program and was known for crisscrossing Colorados back roads to convince skeptical farmers of the benefits of the approach. hide caption. KGNUs Alexis Kenyon spoke with Dr. Jack Schmidt the director of the Center of Colorado River Studies at Utah State University about what a shrinking Colorado River means for everyone and everything it sustains. These farmers, in Imperial County, currently draw more water from the Colorado River than all of Arizona and Nevada combined. The giant reservoirs of Lake Mead and Lake Powell are shrinking fast, and the federal government is calling on all users of the river's water, which include farmers and cities such as Phoenix and Las Vegas, to come up with a plan to cut their water use. Running southwest from the Rocky Mountains to Mexicos Gulf of California, the river runs through seven states in the American West. In 2001, Pueblo West, a planned community 100 miles away, came calling. He believes that the last best hope against the drought is a market-based solution, one that allows private investors seeking a profit a significant hand in redrawing the map of water distribution in the West. If we can get water users within places like the San Juan Basin to agree to shortage sharing agreements, then theres no need for strict priority administration, he said. "It's very early planting," he says. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. For two years, the states have released additional water from at least three reservoirs including New Mexicos Navajo Reservoir to prop up Lake Powell levels. Much of the West, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas, was made by moving water. Its a more acceptable solution, generally.. The system worked as long as there was enough to go around, said Mr. Libecap, who recently advised the State of Colorado on its growing water problems. Private investors would like to bring in or amplify existing elements of Wall Street for the water industry, such as futures markets and trading that occurs in milliseconds. So it's been a high market. Dealing with the threat of climate change to our water requires all sectors, public and private, working together.. Its quite possible that there just wont be as much San Juan-Chama water available in the future because of drought and climate change.. The tribal reservation in western Arizona includes more than 110 miles (177 kilometers) of Colorado River shoreline. And now, water officials are grappling with how to make do with less. The term consultation gets thrown around in the basin a whole lot, Vigil said. Most would like to see the price of water, long set in quiet by utilities and governments, rise precipitously. The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. The markets have become a paradise for arbitrage. He compared the dynamic to California in the 1990s, where fires and outages were beneficial for traders because of price spikes and you saw Enron traders cheering on fires.. The Central Arizona Project, a 336-mile-long water delivery system, brings water from the Colorado River to Arizona's . The system of tunnels and dams at the New Mexico state line diverts water into the Rio Grande Basin. "I think we would rather come up with voluntary agreements to live with a little bit less, to ensure that we have water," he says. The Imperial Irrigation District draws enough water from the river each year to cover. "The droughts that we are seeing are becoming that much more severe because of the temperature component, they're warmer," Bolinger said. "There's been a bad crop in northern California. Colorado River tributaries in New Mexico bring water to the alfalfa fields in the Four Corners and the forested hills of the Gila wilderness in the southwestern part of the state. Much of the money goes to pay for projects that conserve water. 24, 2023 at 11:45 PM PDT. [1/3]An aerial view of Lake Powell is seen, where water levels have declined dramatically as growing demand for water and climate change shrink the Colorado River in Page, Arizona, U.S., November 19, 2022. "Six of the seven basin states are playing catch-up to reduce water use from the Colorado River, which is absolutely critically needed after 20 years of drought and the impacts of climate change," Moran told Reuters. Seven arid states comprise the Colorado River BasinColorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Californiaand all exceed the national average for farm water use, with the exception of Wyoming, which uses 1.5 acre-feet of water per acre, in line with the national average. But Mr. Eklund would like it to be. In Colorado, when we look up at the rocky mountains, its difficult to imagine how much those snowy white peaks mean to the rest of the world. Irrigation canals that are currently simple ditches in the dirt could be lined with concrete, to prevent water from seeping into the ground. A field of alfalfa, freshly cut, dries in the sun. The idea is, if you pay the farmers enough, theyll go away, said Brad Udall, a water and climate researcher at Colorado State University whose family have been lawmakers in the region for 60 years. In 2006, Pueblo West agreed to irrigate and revive the land. Sandbar at river mile 45 before (LEFT) & after (RIGHT), the 2012 high-flow. hide caption. Plus, A Surprising Number Of Food And Beverage Classes In Boulder County. The cuts could be drastic, she warned, reducing Colorado River water access by between 2 and 4 million acre-feet across seven states that rely on itclose to the 4.4 million acre-feet of Colorado River water California is entitled to annually. What is the Colorado River? A historic influx of funding for infrastructure and drought response could also help New Mexico and other basin states reduce water use and prepare for a drier future. 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. Although California was deluged for weeks from late in December by seven atmospheric rivers that dumped up to 30 inches (76 cm) of rain over some areas, little of that reached the Colorado River basin. Colorado River expert John Fleck, a professor at the University of New Mexico, wrote that Californias plan gets to roughly the same place as the six-state plan at the most extreme reservoir levels, but the difference is timing waiting until water levels drop further at Lake Meads Hoover Dam. The farmers say they understand that people need water for health and safety although maybe not for swimming pools and lawns. Other fields are covered with alfalfa or grass that will become feed for cattle. Lurking in those details, though, is a bigger and more worrisome question. He saw a need for drastic conservation efforts to protect reservoirs from overuse and drought worsened by climate change, a situation that if left unchecked could threaten supply from the Hoover Dam to the city of Las Vegas or California. Udall's projections for the Colorado River aren't a certainty, but if climate, drought and water conditions continue as expected over the next five years, the amount of water delivered from . Wall Street investors recognize the term valuable, he said, and now theyre here., Wall Street Eyes Billions in the Colorados Water, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/03/business/colorado-river-water-rights.html. California split from the six states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming on Tuesday in the face of a U.S. government deadline to negotiate their own supply cuts or face possible mandatory cutbacks by the federal government. Thats not what water is meant to be.. Feb. 11, 2023 Updated: Feb. 11, 2023 10:50 a.m. 2002, 2018 and 2021 are the most intense dry periods on record for the basin. Similar deals have been struck in the past, although none involved so much money. To me, the value of water is to the grower and to the community that sends it down the river.. The entire series, including Afterhours at the Radio Bookclub, is available as a podcast. At which point, if private entities like WAM had stores of water in Lake Powell ready to sell, they would suddenly be worth quite a bit more. Escambia River Electric Cooperative. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Theyd have to have a storage account of their own in a federal reservoir, and from my perspective thats a nonstarter, Mr. Mueller said. The rain and snowstorms that battered California in January raised reservoir levels in the state and coated the Sierra Nevada mountains in snowpack that is 210 percent above normal for this time of year. Fourth in a series. Known as a compact call, such an event could trigger draconian, never-before-seen restrictions on water use in cities like Denver, while obligating them to search for alternative, higher-priced sources of water. Increasing Pressures on Colorado River Water in New Mexico, Researchers at the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center in Farmington, N.M., works with alfalfa on July 22, 2020. Imperial County is already one of the poorest in California. The proposal begins with a 400,000 acre-foot cut, as previously offered, and continues with additional reductions as the reservoir declines toward levels where power generation would be threatened. Californias snowpack, aided by atmospheric rivers, could help drought. Theres a problem of aridification. Were in a very fortunate situation here in Albuquerque to have two different and distinct sources of supply.. Scientists attribute extended drought to warmer and drier weather in the West to long-term, human-caused climate change. The interested players range from financial firms to university endowments to investor groups, including at least two in Colorado led by former governors. Chaffee County is considered one of the hidden gems of the Rockies, a relatively unspoiled valley with a diverse economy in tourism as well as agriculture. The most valuable of these rights were grandfathered in decades before the population explosion in desert cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, and privilege water access to small, often family-owned farms in stressed communities. The Evergreen State takes the top spot again in the U.S. News Best States ranking on the strength of its tech sector and other industries. Albuquerques municipal supply is entitled to as much as 15 billion gallons of San Juan-Chama water every year. All rights reserved. Their legal rights won't do much good if there's no more water arriving from Lake Mead. The whole history of the American West is about moving water, Mr. Gammage of Greenstone said. LAS VEGAS (AP) 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. His water district uses about 2.6 million acre-feet of water per year to irrigate more than 400,000 acres of farmland for alfalfa, grasses and other crops. He also pointed out that unlike the private investors who quietly, quickly and pseudonymously bought up valuable property in the Wests notorious land grabs like the acquisition of the Owens River rights by the City of Los Angeles WAM has purchased water rights in its own name. Most of the Imperial Valley actually lies below sea level, and well below the canal's starting point on the Colorado River near Yuma, Ariz. From 2005 to 2010, California consistently used more water than any other state, followed by Texas, Idaho, Florida, and Colorado. Article 16, Section 5. The Colorado River system is in a very dire condition, Dan Bunk, a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation water manager, declared during internet presentations streamed Nov. 29 and Dec. 2 that invited public comment about possible actions. Californias cuts dont kick in until later essentially a gamble on good hydrology once again helping us avoid conflict by letting us use more water in the short term, Fleck wrote on his blog. Matthew Diserio, the president and co-founder of the hedge fund Water Asset Management, has called the U.S. water business the biggest emerging market on earth and a trillion-dollar market opportunity.. Mr. Where water investors have historically gotten involved in markets is through agriculture, with mixed results. FILE - A buoy sits high and dry on cracked earth previously under the waters of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead . But Lpez said the additional release could have jeopardized regional water supplies. The Biden administration helped pave the way for that offer by pledging $250 million for environmental projects to address the dust-ravaged shorelines around the Salton Sea, Californias largest lake, thats fed by agricultural runoff from the Imperial Valley. That would be a disaster. "If you get to a point where you're at dead pool, you have nothing at all. That would be: Were basically going to put all the cuts on the major share of the economy. Investors and the environment may benefit, but water will almost certainly be more expensive.
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