top five consumers of colorado river water

We recognize that over the past twenty-plus years there is simply far less water flowing into the Colorado River system than the amount that leaves it, and that we have effectively run out of storage to deplete, the states wrote. 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. Tickets start at around $89 for the former and $149 for the latter. 24, 2023 at 11:45 PM PDT. Much of the West, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas, was made by moving water. This novel introduces readers to Victoria Nash who is just a teenager in the 1940s, but she runs the household on her familys peach farm in the ranch town of Iola, Colorado. Dan Charles for NPR A Denver-based insulated drinkware company ranked the highest of the 151 Colorado companies on Inc. magazine's 2020 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Dan Charles for NPR Built in the 1980s, Pueblo West was growing too fast to keep up with its water needs, so it bought the ranch and its rights. "The river has a gun to everybody's heads, and it's in everybody's interest to try to work out this thing," says JB Hamby, a member of the irrigation district's board of directors. Is that something that can change? Investor interest in the river could redefine century-old rules for who controls one of the most valuable economic resources in the United States. Driving across the expanse, where the temperature often hovers near 115 degrees, I found myself comforted by the sight of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler carrying bales of hay, which at least implied the existence of something living where I was headed. The entire series, including Afterhours at the Radio Bookclub, is available as a podcast. The event theme, A New Century for the Colorado River Compact, marks 100 years since a 1922 interstate agreement divvied water shares among interests in the seven states now home to 40 million people and millions of farmed acres. WAM and other investors could theoretically create their own reservoir accounts and let the water sit until its value was maximized. The proposal lays out potential new cuts for the states of the Southwest that lie downstream from the major reservoirs Arizona, Nevada and California as well as Mexico, which has treaty rights to a portion of the rivers water. As investor interest mounts, leaders of Southwestern states are gathering this month to decide the future of the Colorado River. 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. What is new is for private investors in this case an investment fund in Phoenix, with owners on the East Coast to exert that power. To proponents of open markets, water is underpriced and consequently overused. Published: Apr. Cardenas said the prospect of a 10 percent cut to the regions $5 billion agricultural economy would mean serious economic pain for a community that already suffers from high unemployment. Southern California water districts recently submitted a proposal to the federal government. The Central Arizona Project, a 336-mile-long water delivery system, brings water from the Colorado River to Arizona's . The other half is mile after mile of green fields lined by irrigation canals. It would never reach the canal that supplies Imperial Valley. Californias snowpack, aided by atmospheric rivers, could help drought. To me, the value of water is to the grower and to the community that sends it down the river.. Beef cattle are the top agricultural product of Imperial County. 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. California receives the most Colorado River water at 4.4 million acre-feet. Lake Powell in Big Water, Utah. 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. Today, tribes are at the table and a Mexico delegation is due to attend the conference. Agricultural water use makes up nearly 80% of total water consumption in the Colorado River basin, with roughly half of that going toward the production of alfalfa hay, according to a 2020. The six states made their case in a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation on Monday. If someone was there to short water, they wouldnt be there anymore, he said. Why do we need to take additional actions now when there was so much water through all these recent storms?. The current canal, built during the New Deal and called the All-American Canal, delivers enough water to the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) each year to cover all of its irrigated land almost 800 square miles with 5 feet of water. The Colorado River Compact was signed in 1922 just 10 years after New Mexico became a state. John Hernandez, a Mexican-American activist, says that there's also a question of fairness if most of the money that the irrigation district gets for using less water potentially hundreds of millions of dollars each year gets passed out to just a few hundred farms. Arizona faces steeper cuts at 592,000 acre-feet (21 percent) of its . One draft plan that's circulating among irrigation districts proposes annual payments of $1,500 per acre almost $1.4 billion in total in exchange for cutting water use by roughly 20 percent on almost a million acres of farmland. 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. 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. California on Tuesday submitted its own proposal for how reductions should play out in coming years, depending on the elevation in Lake Mead. The last time the feds utilized the high-flow experiment was back in 2018. Hay, corn, wheat, sorghum, and millet are the top five. Of all the accomplishments of moving and storing water in the West from Hoover Dam to the mammoth Colorado-Big Thompson reservoir network none may be more impressive than a yellowing, sparsely worded 13-page document called the Colorado River Compact. Once criticized for being a profligate user of water, fast-growing Phoenix has taken some major steps including banking water in underground reservoirs, slashing per-capita use, and recycling wastewater in anticipation of the day when the flow from the Colorado River ends. Keep independent community-powered radio strong in our community. The deadline for public submissions is Dec. 20 for a process expected to yield a final report by summer. That lettuce will be in grocery stores by mid-November. Greg Felt, a county commissioner, at a dried-up alfalfa farm near Nathrop, Colo. acquisition of the Owens River rights by the City of Los Angeles. It will be baled into hay and fed to cattle such as those in the feedlot at the far end of the field. Valued at $2 billion after 14 years in existence, Australias markets primarily facilitate trades in agricultural areas. Throughout the river basin, warnings have increased and measures have tightened markedly in 2022. Copyright 2022 TheAssociated Press. Water markets have been called a paradise for arbitrage, an approach in which professionals use trading speed and access to information for profit. It's about the future of the whole valley. What is the Colorado River? The same issues could resurface next year if officials look to the New Mexico reservoir as an emergency supply for downstream users. The way the markets were set up left them open to being gamed.. Researchers at the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center in Farmington, N.M., works with alfalfa on July 22, 2020. Its a more acceptable solution, generally.. Near its headwaters, in the farming community of Nathrop, Colo., I met up with Greg Felt, a county commissioner. Steve Benson says a further cut of 20 percent is feasible, but it does involve costs. A Florida ethics board has dismissed a complaint that allies of former President Donald Trump filed against Republican rival Gov. From April through September, tours commence at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with . The most comprehensive solution to manage all your complex and ever-expanding tax and compliance needs. In the last few years, Colorado has been debating a water policy approach that has further piqued the interest of private investors: paying farmers not to use the river at all. Lake Powell's drop last March to historically low water levels raised worries about losing the ability perhaps within the next few months to produce hydropower that today serves about 5 million customers in seven states. And crisis drives change.. The two lakes, combined, were at 92% capacity in 1999, Bunk noted. The California proposal makes a constructive effort to uphold the Law of the River while making substantial efforts to protect the Colorado River system with voluntary reductions far beyond Californias legal obligations, JB Hamby, chairman of the Colorado River Board of California, wrote in the introduction to the plan. The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. In Australia, however, water markets have had unintended consequences. The Colorado River provides water to more than 40 million people across seven southwestern states, 29 tribal nations and Mexico - and a lot of major cities in those states are heavily dependent on . Lurking in those details, though, is a bigger and more worrisome question. [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. Im optimistic that were going to sort through some of these more sticky problems with a good collaborative solution, Hamman said. Along both banks, a few hundred acres produce lush alfalfa and cotton, amid one of the more arid and menacing environments in North America. 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. Interior officials did not issue any mandatory water cuts for New Mexico. Sprinklers deliver vital Colorado River water to a field of celery in California's Imperial Valley. PHOENIX (CN) On the heels of one of the wettest Arizona winters in history, federal, state, local and tribal leaders united Thursday to announce a total of $233 million in funding for water conservation agreements to aid the Gila River Indian Community and other Colorado River users. Half of those acres lie within the Imperial Irrigation District. Whats being done? 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. It lies below sea level, allowing water from the Colorado River to flow there by gravity alone. Steve Benson, managing partner of Benson Farms, points out a neighbor's field where a crew is planting lettuce. By the end of May, Lake Mead will reach 1,051 feet. Updated: Apr 26, 2023 / 01:55 PM PDT. 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. Mr. Kightlinger, of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, traces the recent private-investor interest in water to the 2015 crisis. Water Law in Colorado 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. If this water is to be sold to anyone outside the Grand Valley, then its gone, said Mr. George of the Interbasin Compact Committee. (AP Photo/John Locher, File), determine how to use at least 15% less water, restricting the planting of decorative lawns, Trump PAC Complaint Against DeSantis Rejected in Florida, North Carolina AG Urges Public Safety, Law Enforcement Bills, 7 Bodies Found During Search for Missing Oklahoma Teens. States that receive more rainfall and precipitation logically have lower water usage. Farmers, however, would almost certainly challenge such an order in court. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. The proposal would result in about 2 million acre-feet of cuts the low end of what the federal government has asked for and would be largest for the biggest consumers of water: California and Arizona. 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. 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. Marc Catlin, a third-generation farmer who represents western Colorado in the General Assembly, said, A farmers property is their 401(k).. 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. "What happened today was a step forward," said Kevin Moran, a water policy specialist at the Environmental Defense Fund. But for more than a hundred years, millions of people have relied on the water that flows into the Colorado River from the Rocky Mountain snowpack. Access unmatched financial data, news and content in a highly-customised workflow experience on desktop, web and mobile. The high-tech market there services Denver and other cities, fueling development in some of the fastest-growing housing markets in the country. In the last few years, a new force has emerged: From the Western Slope of the Rockies to Southern California, a proliferation of private investors like Greenstone have descended upon isolated communities, scouring the driest terrain in the United States to buy coveted water rights. The Imperial Irrigation District draws enough water from the river each year to cover 470,000 acres with 5 feet of water. Before above-average snows in recent weeks, the Bureau of Reclamation was projecting that Lake Powell could start to reach such thresholds by this summer. So it's been a high market. Right now, we have legal and political mechanisms in place to prevent that from happening., He added, though, that the pressure of the drought could shift the terrain. Dan Charles for NPR The proponents of water markets say they are not in it just for the money. Its quite possible that there just wont be as much San Juan-Chama water available in the future because of drought and climate change.. Lake Mead was at 100% capacity in mid-1999. 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. When I reached Holly Irwin, a county supervisor who lives in Cibola, by phone a couple of weeks after my visit, she was angry. 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. Researchers at the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center in Farmington, N.M., works with . Felt drove me in his pickup to a wide spot in a two-lane highway where trucks towing horses and inflatable river rafts whizzed past. Biden should not let Venezuelas regime run out the clock on democracy, Floridas surgeon general played loose with facts about vaccine risk, in negotiations with the seven states affected. 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. But the entire region must work together, Lpez said, to avoid more mandatory cuts. Mr. A more arid climate means all water users need to work harder to live within our means, said Estevan Lpez, New Mexicos representative on the Upper Colorado River Commission. Another supporter is Michael Burry, the hedge fund manager portrayed by Christian Bale in The Big Short, who made more than $800 million shorting the subprime mortgage market in the mid-2000s. The dry period has lasted more than two decades, draining the major reservoirs along the river. His great-grandfather came to the valley from Sweden in the 1920s. 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. 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. BruMate, which was founded in 2015 by now 25-year-old Dylan Jacob and featured in Forbes magazine recently, sells insulated can coolers, tumblers and drinkware. The Colorado River basin has experienced three D4 droughts in the past 20 years, including the current one. The best states in the U.S. come from coast to coast. Roughly 180,000 people, most of them Mexican-American, live here in towns that include El Centro, Calexico, and Brawley. hide caption. Its not necessarily a new concept in parts of Southern California, farmers have been paid for more than a decade to fallow land. But if you know one tribe, you only know one tribe. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Its pretty tough right now.. As of Wednesday morning, the surge of water released from the Glen Canyon Dam has reached Lake Mead, KTLA's sister station KLAS reports. So youre going to see a very important negotiation.. Arizona city cuts off a neighborhoods water supply amid drought. Most would like to see the price of water, long set in quiet by utilities and governments, rise precipitously. Those who grow alfalfa in Southern Californias Imperial and Coachella valleys would keep their water before people in parts of Los Angeles. It's now more salty than the ocean, heavily contaminated with agricultural runoff, and shrinking. But despite the dismal forecast for the future of water on the Colorado, some conservationists are hoping to return at least a portion of the delta to its former glory. The upper basin includes Utah, Wyoming,. It took two years to redirect the river back into its original channel. A prolonged 21-year warming and drying trend is pushing the . And youre still seeing continued growth. Who are the top 5 water consumers? Bureau officials use the image of pouring tea from one cup to another to describe how water from Rocky Mountain snowmelt is captured in Lake Powell, then released downriver through the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead. 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. 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. It will be baled into hay and fed to cattle such as those in the feedlot at the far end of the field. Steve Benson returned to the family business, Benson Farms in Brawley, Calif., after a career in engineering and real estate. 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. My fear is that the speculators are going to break it. Sandbar at river mile 45 before (LEFT) & after (RIGHT), the 2012 high-flow. Youve got two drivers exacerbating the problem. 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 Colorado River Water Users Association conference, normally a largely academic three-day affair, comes at a time of growing concern about the river's future after more than two decades of record drought attributed to climate change. Click here to see how reuse and recycling could fit in to the West's strategy to save the Colorado River. Home to about 300 people, depending on what time of year youre counting, the town sits on the California border, in a stretch of the Sonoran Desert encircled by fanglike mountains and seemingly dead rocky terrain. Negotiators have had a bit of help from nature to start the year. Access to it can make or break both cities and rural communities. The emergence of open markets could outpace the negotiations. But Colorado River and reservoir management was designed during a much wetter period. A basinwide conservation plan had not materialized by the mid-August deadline. But the basins water is essential for the states largest city: Albuquerque. SEATTLE, Wash., Feb 1 (Reuters) - The Colorado River, which provides drinking water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, is drying up, straining a water distribution pact amid the worst drought in 12 centuries, exacerbated by climate change. Reclamation water managers responded with plans to hold back more water in Lake Powell but warned that Lake Mead water levels would drop. Andy Mueller, general manager of the Colorado River District, at the river in Glenwood Springs, Colo. Marc Catlin, a Colorado state representative, noted the financial incentives for farmers. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post) For the second time in six months, states that depend on the Colorado River to sustain their farms and cities have failed to reach . Alex Cardenas, the president of the board of directors of the Imperial Irrigation District, noted that the water rights among the farmers in his area of California near the border with Mexico predate the formation of the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the river system. Irrigation canals that are currently simple ditches in the dirt could be lined with concrete, to prevent water from seeping into the ground. The Salton Sea still exists, although it's in deep trouble. Where water investors have historically gotten involved in markets is through agriculture, with mixed results. His great-grandfather came to the valley from Sweden in the 1920s. In 2015, California got just 5 percent of its average annual snowpack, the lowest in 500 years. 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. Here water is very scarce, and in periods of shortage traders essentially cheer on the drought, Mr. Kells said. The water flows will not add any more water to Lake Mead than otherwise scheduled for 2023, according to the feds. Subsequently, the governments antitrust department started an inquiry. Ultimately, we argued against it, he said. Could A Boulder Company Solve The Takeout Food Container Trash Conundrum? They also know that this crisis is so severe that famers in the Imperial Valley will have to cut back, too. "If you get to a point where you're at dead pool, you have nothing at all. The idea is to kind of mitigate that sand loss, and keep things close to the way they were before the dam, said Bob Tusso, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist. However, the same water could also flow where water often flows: toward the highest bidder. But we will not serve as an emergency reservoir for uncontrollable, unsustainable urban sprawl, Cardenas said. Flows during the past 23-year period are the lowest in the past 120 years and (among) the lowest in more than 1,200 years, Bunk told the webinar audience. And it had to be a pretty good process, because it lasted 100 years.. Updated: Apr 26, 2023 / 01:55 PM PDT. Everybody gave a little. These farmers, in Imperial County, currently draw more water from the Colorado River than all of Arizona and Nevada combined. When the states struck their agreement 100 years ago, it envisaged the river could provide 20 million acre-feet of water a year. Yeah. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. "The droughts that we are seeing are becoming that much more severe because of the temperature component, they're warmer," Bolinger said. But theres this public perception that, Look, theres flooding. Today, they are at 26%. It can decide the fate of every part of the economy, from almond orchards to ski resorts to semiconductor factories. That would be a disaster. The interested players range from financial firms to university endowments to investor groups, including at least two in Colorado led by former governors. he says. The Upper Basin plan hinges on existing conservation programs. 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. 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 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. 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 .

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