Why California's water glass is half-empty after rain and Arizona's is full

...For years, California’s leaders have prioritized environmental doomsaying over sound water management. In the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the keystone of California’s water system, this has allowed billions of gallons to flow into the Pacific Ocean instead of being captured and stored. 

Ostensibly, this was to protect a 2-inch-long fish named the Delta smelt, though the collapse of the species has continued despite governmental intervention. By not topping off their remaining reservoirs, residents avoid watering their lawns and Central Valley farmers tend to dusty fields. 

Instead of reversing this wasteful policy, Gov. Gavin Newsom is looking for new dams to destroy, targeting the Eel River, Ventura River and Malibu Creek. 

The last large dam in California was built more than 40 years ago. Voters approved $2.7 billion to create new water storage, but that was a decade ago and nothing has been built...more

Majority of America’s underground water stores are drying up, study finds

 Many of America’s critical sources of underground water are in a state of rapid and accelerating decline, a new study has found.

More than half of the aquifers in the United States (53 percent) are losing water, according to research published Wednesday in Nature.And in about 1 in 8 American aquifers — roughly 12 percent — the collapse of underground water levels has sped up during the 21st century, the researchers found. 

“Groundwater levels are declining rapidly in many areas,” co-author Scott Jasechko of the University of California, Santa Barbara told The Hill. 

“And what’s worse, the rate of groundwater decline is accelerating in a large portion of areas,” Jasechko said.

The impacted aquifers support much of the U.S. food system, as well as providing water used by many Americans. And the country is not alone in its losses: The study found rapid loss of water in aquifers that supply hundreds of millions of people worldwide. 

But the researchers added that these grim findings came with a bright spot: Many once-declining regions have bucked the trend.

“Long term groundwater losses,” they wrote, “are neither universal nor inevitable.” 

Hydrologists talk about aquifers in terms of “shallowing” and “deepening” — that is, is whether groundwater is getting closer to or further from the surface. 

When it came to the global trend of shallowing, the prime culprit the researchers identified was agriculture; 70 percent of global withdrawals of underground water went toward irrigation.  

This helps explain declines in aquifers that support large amounts of U.S. agriculture and cities — particularly the breadbaskets of California’s Central Valley and the dairies and alfalfa farms of Arizona’s Gila Bend...more  

As conservation talks start, tensions rise. Who must give up Colorado River water?

 T/he seven states that share the Colorado River’s water celebrated some conservation wins at their annual meeting here this week but quickly began sparring over who will bear the brunt of future pain that they agree a drying climate will dole out.

Talk of cutbacks has long focused on the three states collectively known as the Lower Basin — Arizona, California and Nevada — and on Wednesday, representatives of California water districts and tribes signed federally funded deals to leave more water in the river’s largest reservoir over the next two years.

On Thursday, interstate rivalries re-emerged as officials from the Upper Basin made clear they expect the Lower Basin to cut back much further before coming after their water. Farmers and other users in the headwaters states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico already go without in dry years because they don’t have a giant storage pool like the Southwest’s Lake Mead to augment nature.

The states dodged disaster this year after a wet winter, unlike most in this century, raised water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, leaving each about one-third full. Arizona, California and Nevada still need a consensus plan that will pay users to forego some of their water, but they will likely have to give more when new shortage-sharing rules are negotiated to govern the river beginning in 2026...more

From the Water Education Foundation

Related articles: 

• Newsweek: Colorado River crisis fueled by ignored 1916 study, says hydrologist
• Colorado Sun: Expect a messy compromise on the future of the Colorado River, negotiators say in Las Vegas 
• Salt Lake Tribune: California’s Colorado River water cuts will last a few years. Then what?
• Fox 13 – Salt Lake City: Colorado River water conservation deal inked, but fight looms in the future
• University of Colorado: How an overlooked study over a century ago helped fuel the Colorado River crisis

This fast-growing state is limiting construction due to drought

Arizona will not approve new housing construction on the fast-growing edges of metro Phoenix that rely on groundwater thanks to years of overuse and a multi-decade drought that is sapping its water supply.

In a news conference Thursday, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the restrictions that could affect some of the fastest-growing suburbs of the nation’s fifth-largest city.

Officials said developers could still build in the affected areas but would need to find alternative water sources to do so — such as surface or recycled water.

Driving the state’s decision was a projection that showed that over the next 100 years, demand in metro Phoenix for almost 4.9 million acre-feet of groundwater would be unmet without further action, Hobbs said. An acre-foot of water is roughly enough for two to three U.S. households per year.

...Years of drought in the West worsened by climate change have ratcheted up pressure among Western states to use less water. Much of the focus has stayed on the dwindling Colorado River, a main water source for Arizona and six other Western states. Over the past two years, Arizona’s supply from the 1,450-mile powerhouse of the West has been cut twice.

Phoenix relies on imported Colorado River water and also uses water from the in-state Salt and Verde rivers. A small amount of the city’s water supply comes from groundwater and recycled wastewater...more

States dependent on Colorado River required to conserve unprecedented amount of water in deal

 

The Biden administration has reached a landmark deal with states dependent on the Colorado River to conserve water amid the decadeslong drought.

The three Colorado River lower basin states -- California, Nevada and Arizona -- will be required to conserve an unprecedented 3 million-acre-feet of water through 2026, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced in a press release Monday.

The deal is voluntary among the three states and will prevent the need for federal intervention to mandate cuts.

...The plan also says that if Reclamation's predictions for Lake Mead expect it to fall below 1.025 feet at any point in 2024, 2025, or 2026, the states will have 45 days to propose a plan to protect the water levels in Lake Mead.

If they do not come up with an acceptable plan, the department will be able to intervene...more

States near historic deal to protect Colorado River

After nearly a year wrestling over the fate of their water supply, California, Arizona and Nevada — the three key states in the Colorado River’s current crisis — have coalesced around a plan to voluntarily conserve a major portion of their river water in exchange for more than $1 billion in federal funds, according to people familiar with the negotiations. 

...Participants are discussing cutting back about 3 million acre-feet of water over the next three years, the majority of it paid for with federal money approved in the Inflation Reduction Act. But the parties are still negotiating how much of those water savings will go uncompensated. In meetings over the last month, representatives for the three states, which form the river’s Lower Basin, have also raised doubts about the federal government’s environmental review process that is now underway to formally revise the rules that govern operations at Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

...State officials have suggested they could make a deal on their own and are resisting a May 30 deadline to comment on the alternatives the federal government has laid out in that process, according to people familiar with the talks. The review process is intended to define Interior Secretary Deb Haaland’s authority to make emergency cuts in states’ water use, even if those cuts contradict existing water rights...more

U.S. presents proposals for major water cuts on Colorado River

 

The federal government on Tuesday laid out two options for preventing the Colorado River’s depleted reservoirs from falling to critically low levels, saying it could either impose cuts across the Southwest by following the water-rights priority system or by using an across-the-board percentage.

...The Bureau of Reclamation said it released its initial review of alternatives, called a draft supplemental environmental impact statement, to “address the continued potential for low run-off conditions and unprecedented water shortages in the Colorado River Basin.”

...Under one alternative, the federal government would consider making water reductions based predominantly on the existing priority system for water rights.

That would mean smaller cuts or no cuts for agencies and entities that hold older senior rights, including agricultural suppliers such as California’s Imperial Irrigation District, which uses the single largest share of Colorado River water to supply about 500,000 acres of farmland in the Imperial Valley. Strict adherence to the water-rights priority system would also mean large cuts for junior water rights holders that started taking water from the river later, such as the Central Arizona Project, which supplies Phoenix, Tucson and other cities in Arizona.

...Under a second alternative, the Bureau of Reclamation would analyze the effects of reductions “distributed in the same percentage” for all water users in the three Lower Basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada.

This approach would mean across-the-board cuts for all water users in the region, including senior water rights holders, amounting to a reduction of about 13% on top of cuts that were already agreed to under a 2019 deal. Agricultural irrigation districts, cities and tribes would all need to participate based on a schedule of reductions tied to the levels of Lake Mead.

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Beaudreau said this second alternative would reflect the Interior secretary’s authorities to “provide for human health and safety” and manage supplies under emergency conditions. If reservoir levels drop further and additional cuts are triggered, this approach would shore up the allocations of agencies with more junior water rights, such as cities in Arizona, Nevada and Southern California.

Based only on the contents of this article, it appears the Secretary can overturn years of established  water rights by using his authority to “provide for human health and safety”, and thereby transfer water from rural residents and agricultural use to city residents and municipal use.  

It also appears the second alternative is the preferred alternative of the feds, if for no other reason than to use it as a threat against the ag producers to bring about "voluntary" reductions.

This once-thriving lake has all but dried up. It’s a story repeated across Europe as the drought deepens

Lake Montbel is a shimmering, turquoise lake, stretching across 1,400 acres of southwest France, in the foothills of the Pyrenees – a haven for wildlife, a vital source of irrigation for farmers and water for local rivers, and a tourist paradise. But after the driest winter in more than six decades, it is a shadow of its former self. Shrunken water levels, grounded boats, buoys resting on the cracked earth of the lake bed – current views of Lake Montbel are more reminiscent of what might be expected at the tail end of a scorching summer. Not at the end of winter. Currently at about 28% of its capacity, water levels are less than half what is usual for this time of the year...more

Lake Mead water level rises, defies projections

 This winter's high snowfall across much of the West is making an impact

Story at a glance

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• According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s “Most Probable 24-Month Study” published in March, Lake Mead was projected to have dropped to approximately 1,043.06 feet (above sea level).

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• But, as of Monday morning, Lake Mead’s water level was at 1,045.91, almost 3 feet above the projected level.

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• As of one week ago, snowpack has built the Snow Water Equivalent (SWE) stored in the Colorado Rockies to 158% of the average.

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Nevada considers capping water use for homes in Vegas

 

Lawmakers in Nevada are considering new rules that would give water managers the authority to cap how much water residents could use in their homes, a step that reflects the dire conditions on the Colorado River after more than two decades of drought.

The latest proposal would, for the first time, give the Southern Nevada Water Authority the power to shut off water use for single-family homes that consume more than half an acre foot of water — or about 163,000 gallons — per year. Average residential consumption for the water agency, which serves the Las Vegas metropolitan area, has been about 130,000 gallons per year, according to spokesman Bronson Mack.

About 20 percent of residential water users — in a region of some 2.3 million people — already use more than half an acre foot of water in their homes. These tend to be larger properties, with big lawns or other landscaping that requires extensive irrigation, Mack said...more

California cancels salmon fishing season

 

Even with so much recent rain, California's drought is still having a devastating impact on the salmon fishing industry. So few fish have been found that the state has now issued a ban on salmon fishing along the entire coast.  

Thanks to all the atmospheric river storms, rivers on land are roaring but the effects of years of drought are only now being seen on the salmon population. Last year, 196,000 adult fish were expected to return to the Sacramento River to spawn but only 60,000 showed up...MORE 

The Colorado River is overused and shrinking. Inside the crisis transforming the Southwest

 The Colorado River begins as melting snow, trickling from forested peaks and coursing in streams that gather in the meadows and valleys of the Rocky Mountains.

Like arteries, its major tributaries take shape across Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, coming together in a great river like no other — a river that travels more than 1,400 miles and has defined the rise of the American Southwest over the last century.

Water diverted from the river has enabled agriculture to spread across 5 million acres of farmland and has fed the growth of cities from Denver to Los Angeles, supplying about 40 million people. Harnessing the river’s bounty has provided the foundation for life and the economy across seven states and northern Mexico.

But the region has for years depended too heavily on the river, taking more than its flows can support. And in recent years, the river’s water-generating heart in the Rocky Mountains has begun to fail.

The Colorado River can no longer withstand the unbridled thirst of the arid West.A century ago, the signing of the Colorado River Compact divided the water among the states. The agreement established a system that overpromised what the river could provide. That system, after years of warnings from scientists and insufficient efforts to adapt, is now colliding with the reality of a river that is overused and shrinking.

In the last 23 years, as rising temperatures fueled by the burning of fossil fuels have intensified the worst drought in centuries, the flow of the Colorado has declined about 20%.

Reservoirs have dropped to record-low levels, and the shortage continues to worsen. Scarcity is pushing the region toward a water reckoning...more

‘The Colo. River system is headed for a crash’

 It isn’t just farmers who worry about drought.  Anyone who likes to eat knows the equation between adequate water supplies and resultant food crops.  So the current status between available liquid nutrients and “what’s for supper?” is a correlation most of us have already acknowledged.

 And worried about now that the Bureau of Reclamation has initiated restrictions via a Tier 2a status, effective January 2023 --- the first time in history that the government has pulled that trigger in response to a continually declining Lake Mead.

...While the river provides liquid sustenance for humans in seven Lower Basin states and Mexico, thousands of food producers also reliant on that supply and Tier 2a cuts will represent a shortfall of some 592,000 acre-feet or 21% of the annual river allotment for Arizona.

 ...Ted Cooke, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, puts it this way: “Cuts to the CAP allocation could be near total within just a few years if steps are not taken collectively by Colorado River water users throughout the basin.”

...Although the West is a specific geographic area of concern, these environmental concerns are global in dimension.  Climatologists in China are of the belief that this is the world’s most extreme heat wave on record, saying it is the most intense, most extreme in length, and over an incredibly huge area --- all at the same time.

One scientist noted: “There is nothing in world climatic history which is even minimally comparable to what is happening.”

 ...The coalition of farmers and local water agency leaders are proposing the reduction in their river allocation in exchange for federal financial compensation of $1,500 per acre-foot saved....

...How bad could it get?  Two thirds of Europe’s vegetation is already either under ‘stress’ or ‘warning’ status due to moisture deficit as part of the worst drought in 500 years.

With crop production negatively impacted, hunger stones from previous droughts are being uncovered as lake levels diminish.  Carved rocks are being found bearing messages such as, “If you see me, then weep.”

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DRIED UP: Lakes Mead and Powell are at the epicenter of the biggest Western drought in history

 

The American West is experiencing its driest period in human history, a megadrought that threatens health, agriculture and entire ways of life. DRIED UP is a series of stories examining the dire effects of the drought on the states most affected — as well as the solutions Americans are embracing.

Nowhere is the Southwest’s worst drought since the year 800 more evident than Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the pair of artificial Colorado River reservoirs whose plunging levels threaten major water and power sources for tens of millions of people.

Already, the region is being forced to adapt to the sweeping effects of climate change, and the lakes and their surrounding area are nearing an environmental point of no return.

The retreating waters have revealed everything from World War II-era boats to multiple sets of human remains, including one in a barrel, a morbid reminder of Las Vegas’s history of organized crime.

Lake Mead is projected to get down to 22 percent of its full capacity by year’s end, while Lake Powell is expected to drop to 27 percent, according to estimations from the federal Bureau of Reclamation. Both now sit at record lows.

...In Lake Mead alone, the net water loss has worked out to more than 6 trillion gallons, according to data from the National Park Service. ..Hoover Dam is already seeing reduced electricity production from Lake Mead’s shrinking size, and the reservoir is projected to fall to approximately 150 feet above “dead pool” status, or the point at which the levels are too low to flow downstream, endangering both power and drinking water...MORE 

The Coming Crisis Along the Colorado River

It’s past time to get real about the Southwest’s hardest-working river. 

 About 40 million people rely on the Colorado River as it flows from Colorado to Mexico. But overuse and climate change have contributed to its reservoirs drying up at such a rapid rate that the probability of disastrous disruptions to the deliveries of water and hydroelectric power across the Southwest have become increasingly likely. Now the seven states that depend on the river must negotiate major cuts in water use by mid-August or have them imposed by the federal government. 

 Those cuts are merely the beginning as the region struggles to adapt to an increasingly arid West. The rules for operating the river’s shrinking reservoirs expire in 2026, and those seven states must forge a new agreement on water use for farmers, businesses and cities. 

 What’s worse, all of this is happening in a region that is one of the fastest growing in the United States, even as the signs of an impending crisis become more pronounced. Outside of Las Vegas, Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir by volume, fed by the Colorado and three smaller tributaries, is nearly three-quarters empty and at its lowest level since April 1937, when it was first being filled. The 22-year downward trend is “a stark illustration of climate change and a long-term drought that may be the worst in the U.S. West in 12 centuries,” according to NASA’s Earth Observatory program. 

 A century of agreements, contracts and contingencies known as the Law of the River are meant to settle who gets water in times of scarcity. But this framework overestimates the availability of water; the legal rights to water held by the river’s users exceed the amount that typically flows into it. The law is also untested in key areas — for instance, the exact terms by which states along the upper reaches of the river must send water downriver for the states there to get their full allocation. All of this has created a great deal of uncertainty, and it’s hard to say how the federal government will go about reducing water allotments, if it comes to that.

As a result, the Colorado River is hurtling toward a social, political and environmental crisis at a pace that surpasses the Law of the River’s ability to prevent it. In a world of less water, everyone who uses the river must adjust...MORE

'Something's gotta give.' Relentless heat and worsening drought conditions are devastating Texas cattle ranchers

 

It's a hot July day and a horse rolls around in a patch of dust on Wade Maierhofer's farm in central Texas. A year ago, that same sandy spot was buried under 8 feet of water -- a drinking pond for the rancher's cattle in normal times.

But the pond has since shriveled to a thin layer of algae and sand surrounded by acres of crunchy, dead land. Widespread drought and scorching temperatures are stripping Texas -- and other parts of the country -- of vital water and lush fields needed to sustain livestock.

...Seguin is in Guadalupe County, which is experiencing its second driest year to date of the past 128 years, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System.

This part of Texas averages 24 to 48 inches in precipitation annually, according to the Texas Water Development Board. Measurements from the US Geological Survey show Seguin has only received 4 inches of precipitation so far this year.

...The worsening conditions are making it so difficult to maintain healthy cattle that ranchers are selling off cows at a startling pace not seen in more than a decade, foreshadowing troubling trends for consumer prices. With so many cows sold and slaughtered at once, fewer calves will be born next year, which means less beef on the market down the road.

...The auction barn typically doesn't get busy until late fall, but Luensmann said this year, it's been active all summer as ranchers try to lighten their load to save the rest of their herds.

"It's gonna continue this way until it rains, or we sell off the last of the cattle around here," he said.

...A calf would normally bring in $400 to $800 at auction, he said. On Wednesday, he watched his calf sell for $70.

With so many ranchers selling off cattle, the market is flooded and the price for cows has gone down.

Along with his calf, he also sold an older cow on Wednesday, which he said would normally sell for $300 to $900. Guerrero, standing outside of the auction, said he didn't want to know the price at which his cow was sold.

"I don't even want to look," he said.

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Utah’s Great Salt Lake hits new historic low amid drought in western US

 The Great Salt Lake has hit a new historic low for the second time in less than a year, a dire milestone as the US west continues to weather a historic megadrought.

The Utah department of natural resources said in a news release on Monday that the Great Salt Lake dipped over the weekend to 4,190.1ft (1,277.1 meters).

That is lower than the previous historic low set in October, which at the time matched a 170-year record low. Lake levels are expected to keep dropping until fall or winter, the agency said, as conditions exacerbated by the climate crisis continue to put a strain on water levels.

The giant lake near Salt Lake City is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi. Its dwindling water levels have put millions of migrating birds at risk and threaten a lake-based economy that is worth an estimated $1.3bn in mineral extraction, brine shrimp and recreation. The expanding amount of exposed lakebed could also send arsenic-laced dust into the air that millions breathe, scientists say...MORE

Southern California residents cut water in drought of 'epic proportions'

 

Southern California areas told to cut water use by 35% finished June on track to stave off an outdoor watering ban.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California supplies those communities in Ventura, Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties with Northern California water delivered by the State Water Project. After a record dry start to the year, the state limited its deliveries to just 5%.

..In response, Metropolitan required millions of its customers to cut outdoor watering to one day a week or find other ways to conserve.The first of their kind restrictions were brought on by extraordinary drought conditions, Coffey said.

“The southwestern U.S. is in a drought of epic proportions,” he said.

Amid a years-long drought, California recorded its driest January, February and March on record this year. The U.S. Drought Monitor now classifies nearly all of California – 97% – in severe to extreme drought...MORE

Officials gather to discuss water shortages in Idaho

  On Monday and Tuesday, some of the most influential minds in Idaho water usage are in Sun Valley discussing some of the realities facing the Gem State’s water supply.

“Right now, we’re struggling to meet even current water supply needs,” said Paul Arrington, the Executive Director of the Idaho Water Users Association. He tells me there are massive challenges facing the Gem State’s irrigation system.

But, the annual Water Law and Resources Issues Seminar is a place where those challenges often find solutions.

“This year we’re talking about drought, we’re talking about aging water infrastructure, which is a huge issue in Idaho, we’re talking about how to maximize the dollars that are available, whether it be for watershed projects or water quality or building infrastructure,” Arrington said.

“If we keep spending money the way we’ve always been spending money, we’re going to be in the same place as soon as that money is gone,” said CEO of The Freshwater Trust, Joe Whitworth. “What we have to do is coordinate that and integrate that so that an entire watershed can benefit in a quantified way.”

Arrington knows this week could have a massive impact on Idaho’s ability to continue to be the agricultural hub it has been known to be and is ready for the challenge...MORE

Drought-stricken US warned of looming 'dead pool'

 A once-in-a-lifetime drought in the western part of the US is turning up dead bodies - but that's the least of people's worries.

Sitting on the Arizona-Nevada border near Las Vegas, Lake Mead - formed by the creation of the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River - is the largest reservoir in the United States and provides water to 25 million people across three states and Mexico. Here, the stunning scale of a drought in the American west has been laid plain for all to see.

The water level is now so low that bodies of murder victims from decades back, once hidden by its depths, have surfaced.

One was stuffed in a barrel with a gun shot wound - presumably because someone thought it would stay unnoticed at the bottom of the vast reservoir forever.

While the dead bodies are fuelling talk about Las Vegas' mob past, water experts warn of even more worrisome consequences. If the lake keeps receding, it would reach what's known as "dead pool" - a level so low the Hoover Dam would no longer be able to produce hydropower or deliver water downstream.

Californians have have been told to conserve water at home or risk mandated water restrictions as a severe drought on the West Coast is expected to get worse during the summer months.

People have been told to limit outdoor watering and take shorter showers. In Los Angeles, many are being asked to cut their water use by 35%. The restrictions come after California recorded the driest start to the year on record...MORE