He said it’s especially critical to ensure Lake Mead doesn’t decline to “dead pool” levels, at which water would no longer pass through Hoover Dam to Arizona, California and Mexico. “Significant contributions are not really forthcoming at this time, which is unfortunate, because that’s really what’s needed in order to prevent the system from completely crashing,” Hamby said. “The Upper Basin is not contributing anything firm whatsoever at this point, and things are still in flux with Arizona and Nevada.”Įven as the river is in a crisis that demands contributions from across the region, Hamby said, it remains “a ways from any agreements being inked.” “We’re seeing different approaches from other states,” Hamby said.
Hamby said California’s water districts have made significant proposals laying out “where we think we can be in a very short period of time.” He declined to discuss how much water those proposals would conserve and leave in Lake Mead. One of the entities that many water managers are looking to for major contributions is the Imperial Irrigation District, which supplies farmlands in California’s Imperial Valley and controls the single largest share of Colorado River water. Gavin Newsom has unveiled a new water strategy to conserve, capture, recycle and desalinate supplies. In a July 18 letter to Touton, Charles Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission, said the four upper states have “limited” options available to protect reservoir levels.Ĭullom wrote that “previous drought response actions are depleting upstream storage by 661,000 acre-feet,” and that the four states’ water users “already suffer chronic shortages under current conditions.”Ĭullom offered a plan with various steps in the Upper Basin but said “additional efforts to protect critical reservoir elevations must include significant actions focused downstream.”Ĭlimate & Environment With California expected to lose 10% of its water within 20 years, Newsom calls for urgent actionĬiting global warming, California Gov.
The Upper Basin states have looked to the Lower Basin states, which use more water, to contribute much of the reductions. Touton called for negotiating a plan for the reductions within 60 days, a schedule that hasn’t been achieved. She warned that the bureau has the authority to “act unilaterally to protect the system.” The federal government’s call for urgent action came in a congressional hearing on June 14, when Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton announced that cuts of 2 million to 4 million acre-feet will be needed in 2023 to address declining reservoir levels. They haven’t said how they will respond to the lack of an agreement among the states.
#Hasten crossword update
Reclamation officials are expected to give an update on the proposals for water cuts that have been discussed. Lake Mead and Lake Powell have fallen to record-low levels, now nearly three-fourths empty, and are projected to continue dropping. The federal Bureau of Reclamation is scheduled to hold a news conference Tuesday to present the government’s latest projections of reservoir levels, which will dictate water cuts for the Lower Basin states under a previous 2019 deal. Last-minute tweaks to Democrats’ healthcare and climate bill added $4 billion to address the drought and water crisis along the Colorado River. Politics Sinema’s last-minute push on Democrats’ climate bill added $4 billion to combat Western drought
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