Water Worries Build In Colorado, Throughout Desert Southwest - Denver Post

[hatrack]

"Lake Powell, the desert oasis that has served Colorado as a crucial fail-safe for water deliveries throughout the Southwest during five years of hard drought, is now more than half empty. If the drought persists a year or two more, the 186-mile-long reservoir in Utah and Arizona could be drained dry as early as 2007, federal officials say.

EDIT

On Friday, the Bureau of Reclamation said it expects only 55 percent of the normal runoff to flow into Lake Powell between April and July. That guarantees the big reservoir, already down to 42 percent of capacity, will recede even further by 2005.

Time is running out," said Pat Mulroy, director of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. "The drought no one thought would even happen is here."

Under the Colorado River Compact of 1922, the states of Colorado, Wyoming and Utah are required to allow an average of 7.5 million acre-feet per year to flow past a river gauge below Lake Powell for use by California, Arizona and Nevada. The four upper-basin states have met their compact obligations during the five-year drought by releasing water from Lake Powell. But if Powell dries up - and hydrologists caution that is still a big if - the state could eventually be required to turn off the massive transmountain tunnels that have supplied Colorado River water to Front Range residents and Eastern Plains farmers for more than 50 years."

EDIT

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~23447~2059903,00.html

Long, fascinating and important article.

[politicat]

1. Yup. It's been a bad several years.

We've got ranchers slaughtering herds, farmers so bankrupt that they'll never get out from under the bank, the suicide rate in ag workers is through the roof (7x the general population, last time I looked) and the ag counties in the east are strapped for social services.

So what does our incredibly inept, ridiculous repug Gov do?

Encourages growth of the tract/suburbia type. Insists that privatization is the key. Build more dams. Oh, and gives taxbreaks and donations to build more prisons, mostly private-ish, to "create jobs" and incidentally, warehouse all of those "evildoers" who are guilty of little more than poverty and frustration.

And then people like my mother, who lives in PHX and waters her KY bluegrass lawn twice a day, all year round, wonder why I despise the Southwest Megapoli.

Someone help me explain that poor rainfall + agreements negotiated in wet periods + growing population = bad environmental news.....

[phantom power]

2. hard to break the circle of delusion

I also live in Phoenix. Here's what I see:

Politicians avoid giving water supply the attention it deserves, because any real solutions will "negatively impact economic growth", and of course that's always a third-rail.

Citizens conclude that it must not be a real problem, because hey, the fearless leaders would surely be doing something about it if it were a real problem, right?

[phantom power]

3. There's also another dynamic

There's another dynamic that is similar to the Spanish Prisoner problem. Suppose you're a politician who actually *does* want to do something about water supply. But you know that if you campaign on that platform, you'll end up against an opponent who will smear you as anti-growth, and who will also claim that taking water supply seriously is "alarmist", and there's no need for anybody to "sacrifice the economy".

So, everybody ends up in a sort of game-theoretic gridlock. There's too much political risk in taking the high-road, because the probability is too high that an opponent will take the shortterm advantage with the low road.

[NNadir]

4. Of course, that problem is played out on the national scale.

Not only does it effect environmental issues like Greenhouse related climate change, but it also effects things like tax policy.

The scary thing is that in a democracy, you sometimes get what you deserve.

[phantom power]

6. The 80% solution

Factoid: In case you weren't aware of just how insane our water policy is here in Phoenix: there are actually development communities where the HOA regulations *require* every home owner to grow grass on at least 80% of their lawn.

You heard me right. Instead of regulations that require, say, 80% xeriscaping, which could be construed as a sane policy in a desert, we have developments where you are required to grow 80% grass.

[redqueen]

7. WTF?!

Insane is too kind a word. People who are insane most often cannot help being insane, they're just born that way or develop chemical imbalances.

These people, though, have NO excuse.

Disgust doesn't even come close to describing my reaction to that factoid.

[JAbuchan08]

5. You guys are all spot on

Owen's "plan" was to amend the colorado constitution mandating that the problem be solved. Of course this was a Bushian sort of move to guarantee that Owen's would HAVE to take the only action available at the time (in his mind) a massively expensive give away to utilities companies.

[hatrack]

8. Related: NPS Scrambles With Most Boat Ramps High & Dry

"A construction scramble is underway at Lake Powell, to make sure recreationists have a way to launch their boats this summer. Utah's most popular lake is at its lowest level in more than 30 years.

The drought has been tough on Lake Powell. Nearly all the launch ramps are high and dry. The poster-child for the drought is the launch ramp at Hite, at the upper end of the lake. It's now miles from any useable lake water.

EDIT

The Park Service is spending millions to keep boaters happy. At the Stateline ramp near Big Water, Utah, they're pouring concrete to extend the ramp. They're also extending the main ramp at Bullfrog. They're also building a brand-new ramp at Bullfrog. A key point is that the lake must rise a little bit to get the ramps in full use.

EDIT

The latest prediction is quite bleak: The lake will probably only rise about 8 feet from spring runoff. So it's a good guess it will be even lower next year."

EDIT/END

http://tv.ksl.com/index.php?nid=5&sid=85555