CA Snowpack At 15% Of Water Content For May 4th; Cutbacks Coming All Along The Colorado

[hatrack]

Link to tweet

Arizona is prepared to lose about one-fifth of the water the state gets from the Colorado River in what could be the first federally declared shortage in the river that supplies millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico, state officials said Thursday.

Arizona stands to lose more than any other state in the Colorado River basin that also takes in parts of Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Nevada and California. That’s because Arizona agreed long ago to be the first in line for cuts in exchange for federal funding for a canal system to deliver the water to Arizona’s major metropolitan areas.

The Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Central Arizona Project, which manages the canal system, said the anticipated reductions will be painful, but the state has prepared for decades for a shortage through conservation, water banking, partnerships and other efforts. “It doesn’t make it any less painful. But at least we know what is coming,” said Ted Cooke, general manager of the Central Arizona Project.

EDIT

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation projected earlier this month that Lake Mead, which delivers water to Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico, will fall below 1,075 feet (328 meters) for the first time in June 2021. If the lake remains below that level in August when the bureau issues its official projection for 2022, Arizona and Nevada will lose water. The two states already voluntarily have given up water under a separate drought contingency plan. The voluntary and mandatory Tier 1 cuts mean Arizona will lose 18% of its Colorado River supply, or 512,000 acre-feet of water. The amount represents 30% of the water that goes to the Central Arizona Project and 8% of Arizona’s overall water supply.

EDIT

https://climatecrocks.com/2021/05/04/in-the-west-drought-disaster-looms/#more-66007

[Thunderbeast]

1. When you move to the desert...

...you will eventually be thirsty.

The artificial lifestyles of the desert southwest are not sustainable. John Wesly Powell told us that 150 years ago.

The loss of glacial storage and the Ogalalla Aquifer in the plains will cause huge displacement in populations and food production.

"Listen to the Science" (Greta Thunberg)