Because the Colorado River is so large, envisioning the local impacts of water transfers can be a challenge for decision makers, especially when the communities are as remote as Cibola. 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. A letter signed by the six states showed they all recognised the need for a change in operating procedures for the Colorado River and deliveries from it, she added. The six states made their case in a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation on Monday. Arizona faces steeper cuts at 592,000 acre-feet (21 percent) of its . During the past two decades of drought, and particularly in recent years, the rivers flow has declined, but states continue to consume more than the river provides, based on a framework established a century ago. All rights reserved. Ever since the late-2000s, the last time that water supplies in Colorado River reservoirs reached critically low levels, the biggest water users in Arizona, California, and Nevada have been stashing water in Lake Mead, in preparation for another emergency to come and in an attempt to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the region's water . Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus this week for a conference in Las Vegas about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River, Colorado River Water Users Convening Amid Crisis Concerns, FILE - 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. The negotiations have the potential to redefine rules that for the last century have governed one of the most valuable economic resources in the United States. Florida Power & Light, a part of NextEra Energy. They also know that this crisis is so severe that famers in the Imperial Valley will have to cut back, too. The four states at the headwaters of the river Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming also recently announced they plan to ask Congress to let them use federal money through 2026 for a program dubbed strategic conservation. It would resurrect a 2015 to 2018 pilot program that paid farmers to fallow land to cut water use. Duke Energy Florida, a part of Duke Energy. The deadline for public submissions is Dec. 20 for a process expected to yield a final report by summer. Touton said the states need to conserve an additional 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water next year to protect levels at Lake Powell in Arizona and Utah and Lake Mead in Nevada and Arizona. The Central Arizona Project, a 336-mile-long water delivery system, brings water from the Colorado River to Arizona's . Mr. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. A Florida ethics board has dismissed a complaint that allies of former President Donald Trump filed against Republican rival Gov. The industry leader for online information for tax, accounting and finance professionals. In September, Nasdaq and CME Group, the worlds largest derivatives marketplace, announced plans to open a futures market for California water, joining it with commodities like Brent crude oil and soybeans. Associated Press journalists Brittany Peterson in Denver, Sam Metz in Salt Lake City and Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report. These farmers, in Imperial County, currently draw more water from the Colorado River than all of Arizona and Nevada combined. In 2021, water managers considered releasing even more water from Navajo Reservoir to help water levels in downstream reservoirs. The effect has been dramatic on a vast river basin where the math never added up: The amount of water it receives doesn't meet the amount that is promised. The dry period has lasted more than two decades, draining the major reservoirs along the river. We stand behind the priority system on the river, and we also understand that theres painful cuts that people need to make. Lake Mead to rise one foot by Sunday after federal high flow water release, Las Vegas police: Man shot in street in west valley, 1 dead, 2 hurt in southwest Las Vegas Valley crash, Heavy, black smoke, flames seen near Cheyenne, Lamb, 2 suspects face arson charges after setting fires at Las Vegas Strip hotels, Clark County in dire need of foster parents for teens; Heres how to help, I lost everything: Recovering addict shares story of hope, helping others in Las Vegas, City turns on water at splash pads at parks across Las Vegas. The Colorado River basin has experienced three D4 droughts in the past 20 years, including the current one. It certainly seems that we have to reset our expectations for what we might be trying to get out of the river, said Lpez, a former Reclamation commissioner. WAM, based in New York and San Francisco, invests broadly in water-related ventures, and one of its core businesses is collecting water rights in arid states like Arizona and Colorado. But Lpez said the additional release could have jeopardized regional water supplies. Sprinklers deliver vital Colorado River water to a field of celery in California's Imperial Valley. Use less waterevery drop counts! Irrigation canals that are currently simple ditches in the dirt could be lined with concrete, to prevent water from seeping into the ground. Officials fear complete doomsday scenario for drought-stricken Colorado River. The past two years have also seen healthy winter snow accumulation in the Rockies only to have runoff levels into Lake Powell that were a fraction of normal, as terrain dried out by the warming climate absorbed more of the water before it can reach the reservoir. Selling the rights to a Rocky Mountain trout stream or a hayfield dating from the pioneer era to nonlocal interests, especially those seeking to turn a profit, has the potential to be seen as auctioning state patrimony. Anyone can read what you share. Similar deals have been struck in the past, although none involved so much money. The State of Colorado could actually buy the water from them, Mr. Libecap said. They would have bought it, turned it, flipped it, and theyd be gone.. Half is in its natural state, a bone-dry desert. But those plans, say members of Colorado's outdoor recreation, real estate, and tourism industries, jeopardize a $9 billion dollar economy that hinges on healthy rivers - and supports more . Here water is very scarce, and in periods of shortage traders essentially cheer on the drought, Mr. Kells said. Who are the top 5 water consumers? The snowpack in the Rocky Mountains, the main source of runoff that feeds the Colorado River system, is also higher than normal but not by as much as in California. One of the central tensions of these complicated negotiations is how to balance cuts between farming regions against those in cities, including major population centers. The proponents of water markets say they are not in it just for the money. 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. 24, 2023 at 11:45 PM PDT. When you have pistachio and almond farmers willing to pay 10 times the average price, people sit up and say, How can I own some of this? he said. The price had risen tenfold in a matter of months. Half of those acres lie within the Imperial Irrigation District. 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. "Something is not right when that's going on in the neighborhood.". Clay Electric Cooperative. So youre going to see a very important negotiation.. In theory, water saved by demand management could flow to the account, often called a pool within the pool, and be drawn upon if the current drought continues to realize worst-case scenarios. From April through September, tours commence at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with . This years meeting of water recipients begins Wednesday at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. We let anyone come play.. 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. On a map, this is the very top of the Gulf of California. 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. 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. But theres this public perception that, Look, theres flooding. 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. But officials in these farming districts with long-standing water rights do not intend to give them up without a fight or without compensation that meets their needs. It has offered its own plan to conserve water. Sign up for the Climate Coach newsletter, in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday. Most of the water in the 1,450-mile-long river comes from Colorado, and as that state's top water official from 2013 to 2017, James Eklund directed the creation of a comprehensive. "We have a situation where some of the water rights holders in California are saying, 'We're not willing to give up more water, and we think we have legal rights and we're willing to go to court if we have to'," said David Hayes, a lecturer at Stanford University Law School. 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. Where water investors have historically gotten involved in markets is through agriculture, with mixed results. But the largest water user, California, did not join them an impasse that suggests the wrangling over how to conserve the dwindling water supply that serves 40 million people will continue in coming months. She is the sole surviving female in a family of troubled men. Farmers also could reduce the amount of land planted in crops, especially alfalfa and grasses, which get baled into hay to feed cattle or horses. The gruesome discoveries renewed interest in the lore of organized crime and the early days of the Las Vegas Strip, just a 30-minute drive from the lake. 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. It will be baled into hay and fed to cattle such as those in the feedlot at the far end of the field. "The water of every natural stream, not heretofore appropriated, within the state of Colorado, is hereby declared to be the property of the public, and the same is dedicated to the use of the people of the state, subject to appropriation as hereinafter provided." Article 16. But the entire region must work together, Lpez said, to avoid more mandatory cuts. The state representatives said they would continue to work together and with the federal government and others to reach consensus on how best to share the burden of protecting the system from which we all derive so many benefits.. Copyright 2022 TheAssociated Press. 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 exchange, San Diego pays the irrigation district more than $100 million each year. Its pretty tough right now.. They're trying to jump on the market early and have the first lettuce to be harvested.". (Anthony Jackson/The Albuquerque Journal via AP) The Associated Press. A Farmer, A Chef, An Advocate And A Pie Guy Discuss Local Food Systems. Arizona, by contrast, is entitled to 2.8 million acre-feet of Colorado River water every year. Fourth in a series. 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. Without the river and its load of nutrients, marine productivity in the Gulf of California where the Colorado River once ended has fallen by up to 95 percent.
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