top five consumers of colorado river water

Six of the Colorado River states agreed on water cuts. California did 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. He believes that the last best hope against the drought is a market-based solution, one that allows private investors seeking a profit a significant hand in redrawing the map of water distribution in the West. 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. 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. He saw a need for drastic conservation efforts to protect reservoirs from overuse and drought worsened by climate change, a situation that if left unchecked could threaten supply from the Hoover Dam to the city of Las Vegas or California. I have seen time and again the wisdom of using incentives that attract private sector investment and innovation, Mr. Eklund said. Understanding California's relationship with Colorado River 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. Although California was deluged for weeks from late in December by seven atmospheric rivers that dumped up to 30 inches (76 cm) of rain over some areas, little of that reached the Colorado River basin. Feb. 11, 2023 Updated: Feb. 11, 2023 10:50 a.m. His great-grandfather came to the valley from Sweden in the 1920s. Similar deals have been struck in the past, although none involved so much money. The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. 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. Fourth in a series. In 2015, California got just 5 percent of its average annual snowpack, the lowest in 500 years. 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. Whether its fallowing fields, upgrading irrigation canals, or modernizing farming methods, Flores said, decisions made now will have lasting consequences.. By design, the five-year process is ponderous and built to be consensus-driven, with an eye toward shared sacrifice. But over the last two decades, the actual flow has dwindled to 12.5 million acre-feet on average, leaving state water managers with more rights on paper than existing supply. The Imperial Valley is a place of jarring contrasts. It sold those to owners unaware of their obligation to revegetate the land, now without access to water. Those forage crops, which cover the majority of the land, aren't usually as valuable as vegetables. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Though it stopped short of calling for a shutdown, an interim report last summer recommended comprehensive changes in water markets, citing inadequate regulation and market exploitation by professional traders. Why do we need to take additional actions now when there was so much water through all these recent storms?. But the basins water is essential for the states largest city: Albuquerque. There is a myth about water in the Western United States, which is that there is not enough of it. Rechanneling water from rural areas to thirsty growth spots like Queen Creek has long been handled by municipal water managers and utilities, but investors adept at sniffing out undervalued assets sense an opportunity. Going by established law, Leimgruber says, those latecomers would be cut off from Colorado River water completely before the Imperial Irrigation District gives up any of the water to which it's entitled. This led to domination by professional investors with no ownership of farmland, Mr. Kells said. 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 . In an online presentation last spring outlining WAMs long-term strategy, Marc Robert, the chief operating officer, professed his belief that U.S. consumers would be compelled to use more wisely in coming years. Half of those acres lie within the Imperial Irrigation District. As a result, water has turned into a financialized product like what happened to energy in the late 1990s, he said. From April through September, tours commence at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with . Light shines off the water flowing in a section of the Central Arizona Project on Oct . Copyright 2022 TheAssociated Press. Tickets start at around $89 for the former and $149 for the latter. LAS VEGAS (AP) Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus this week for state and federal water administrators, tribal officials, farmers, academics and business representatives meeting about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River. After . 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. We went harder and faster than anyone and let the market rip, said Stuart Kells, a professor at La Trobe Business School in Melbourne. The way the markets were set up left them open to being gamed.. In the last 10 years, the price of water there has gone up more than eightfold. We stand behind the priority system on the river, and we also understand that theres painful cuts that people need to make. So youre going to see a very important negotiation.. 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. What top five states have rivers? They inherited the legal right to use that water, but they're now under pressure to give up some of it. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. A Florida ethics board has dismissed a complaint that allies of former President Donald Trump filed against Republican rival Gov. 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. A wet winter is now prompting federal officials to release more water downstream into the reservoir. Escambia River Electric Cooperative. This area gets less attention than California's Central Valley, the nation's leading producer of produce and nuts, which draws its water from rain and snow in the Sierra Mountains, or pumps it from shrinking underground aquifers. The entire series, including Afterhours at the Radio Bookclub, is available as a podcast. A few of the fields are shrouded by showers of water delivered from long lines of sprinklers. As of Wednesday morning, the surge of water released from the Glen Canyon Dam has reached Lake Mead, KTLA's sister station KLAS reports. Arizona city cuts off a neighborhoods water supply amid drought. . At the moment, though, the dismal vista remains: What had once been a flourishing meadow lined with cottonwoods and willows now looked like a giant abandoned lot. It wasnt until 1944 that a separate agreement promised a share of water to Mexico. 'The brink of disaster': 2023 is a critical year for the Colorado River This years meeting of water recipients begins Wednesday at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)John Locher. Interior Department has said it will engage with tribes in the basin as parties hammer out some management details of the compact that are set to expire after 2026. The Imperial Irrigation District draws enough water from the river each year to cover 470,000 acres with 5 feet of water. The dry period has lasted more than two decades, draining the major reservoirs along the river. 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. Agriculture uses some 80 percent of the rivers water and also tends to have the most senior rights, some dating back to the 19th century. Some fear that less water, and less farming, means fewer jobs and economic decline. According to the Southern Nevada Water Authority, Lake Mead will rise from 1,047 feet on Monday to 1,048 feet by Sunday. Those Upper Basin reservoir releases will likely continue next year, Interior officials said. Yeah. The system of tunnels and dams at the New Mexico state line diverts water into the Rio Grande Basin. Keep independent community-powered radio strong in our community. These fields owe their existence to fortune-seeking land speculators and engineers who, starting in 1901, dug a canal to bring water to this valley from the Colorado River. 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. Utilities, which in previous dry years bought water from farmers, found they could no longer afford it. But Lpez said the additional release could have jeopardized regional water supplies. It may feel like California is flush with water at the moment, after a winter of historic storms that replenished drought-starved lakes and left the . Last year, Australias devastating wildfires and drought spiked water prices. Other fields are covered with alfalfa or grass that will become feed for cattle. That lettuce will be in grocery stores by mid-November. They believe that the West has an outdated and overregulated system governing access to water, which has encouraged the cultivation of crops in the desert. Restoring the Colorado: Bringing New Life to a Stressed River Despite predictions for more such atmospheric rivers, of growing size and frequency, California cannot solve its long-term crisis without major investments to capture more storm water, restore flood plains and recycle wastewater. The Imperial Irrigation District draws enough water from the river each year to cover 470,000 acres with 5 feet of water. Click here to see how reuse and recycling could fit in to the West's strategy to save the Colorado River. Dan Charles for NPR In the winter, 90% of vegetables consumed in both the US and Canada are grown with Colorado River water. 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. However, the same water could also flow where water often flows: toward the highest bidder. Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. The best states in the U.S. come from coast to coast. 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. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. Researchers at the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center in Farmington, N.M., works with . The Radio Bookclub is a collaboration between KGNU and the Boulder Bookstore and is broadcast on the 4th Thursday of every month at 9am. The bureau forecasts that for the first time, Lake Mead will operate in a Tier 2 shortage condition starting in 2023. Copyright 2023 KVVU. In the last 20 years, tensions over increasingly scarce Colorado River water supplies have been rising in step with climate change and global temperatures. Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Scotland on Monday for a short trip to visit his golf courses in the country and in Ireland. 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. You know, we in the water business have done a great job of saying, Waters the next oil, youve got to watch out, its going to be so valuable, he added. According to the site below, 1.. 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. A Florida ethics board has dismissed a complaint that allies of former President Donald Trump filed against Republican rival Gov. 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. 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. Exclusive news, data and analytics for financial market professionals, Reporting by Liliana Salgado and Temis Tormo; Writing by Clarence Fernandez; KGNU is made possible by listeners like you! By the end of May, Lake Mead will reach 1,051 feet. An acre-foot (1,233 cubic meters) of water is generally considered enough to supply two urban households per year. Mr. Kightlinger, of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, traces the recent private-investor interest in water to the 2015 crisis. Often, the best land in the West is not along rivers, so you needed to move water.. "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. Agriculture all over the West required the development of irrigation infrastructure, such as dams and ditches, Mr. Libecap said. The Upper Basin plan hinges on existing conservation programs. The Colorado River waters our crops. What if it dries up? - Vox Arizona faces steeper cuts at 592,000 acre-feet (21 percent) of its . It would never reach the canal that supplies Imperial Valley. That a lush hay farm had once been here seemed hard to believe. My fear is that the speculators are going to break it. The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country. Californias snowpack, aided by atmospheric rivers, could help drought. They cant follow the priority system. In 2021, water managers considered releasing even more water from Navajo Reservoir to help water levels in downstream reservoirs. The Best Whitewater Rafting in Colorado - US News & World Report Tags: Associated Press, business, New Mexico, environment. In Australia, however, water markets have had unintended consequences. On a map, this is the very top of the Gulf of California. Mr. Catlin, the state representative, said: We need to think about the true value of water. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in June told the seven states that are part of the Colorado River Basin Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming to determine how to use at least 15% less water next year, or have restrictions imposed on them. Mr. Eklund secured an account in Lake Powell. WAM and other investors could theoretically create their own reservoir accounts and let the water sit until its value was maximized. The ultimate goal of this high-flow experiment is to move sand and sediment along the Colorado River. That would be a disaster. Surge of Colorado River water reaches Lake Mead - ktla.com Later, as the states negotiator on the Colorado River, he helped make it an official goal of the compact states. Mr. These farmers, in Imperial County, currently draw more water from the Colorado River than all of Arizona and Nevada combined. According to Porter, some legal experts believe that the federal Bureau of Reclamation has the authority simply to order a reduction in water deliveries from reservoirs like Lake Mead to agricultural irrigation districts. 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. 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 . Much of the money goes to pay for projects that conserve water. Florida Power & Light, a part of NextEra Energy. Sprinklers deliver vital Colorado River water to a field of celery in California's Imperial Valley. 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. 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. 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. His great-grandfather came to the valley from Sweden in the 1920s. "And there's not enough time to litigate these issues," added Hayes, a former top climate aide to President Joe Biden. New York investors snapping up Colorado River water rights - Reddit Today it is 28% full. Dan Charles for NPR Sandbars are important, according to the feds: they are places for people to camp, fish, and also protect important archaeological sites throughout the Grand Canyon and across the Colorado River. The State of Colorado could actually buy the water from them, Mr. Libecap said. WAM has become one of the largest landholders in the Grand Valley, a high-mountain desert on the Western Slope of the Rockies, 250 miles west of Denver. More frustrating for those trying to solve the Wests dire water problems, if water runs out, because of those generous rights granted a century ago, the metropolises will have to turn off their taps before the old farms. An engineering marvel from the heyday of federal water construction, the project is a vast network or reservoirs filled by a tunnel that pipes water from the Colorado River 13 miles under the Continental Divide. 151 Colorado firms on Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private companies list EL CENTRO, Calif. A few hundred farms in the southern tip of California, along the Mexican border, may hold the key to saving the drought-plagued Colorado River from collapse. Nevada, Arizona and Mexico will all receive less water from the Colorado River next year because of rapidly-declining reservoirs, the Interior Department announced on Aug. 16. The Imperial Valley, by contrast, has only one source of water: the Colorado River, 80 miles to the east. A resilient future on the Colorado must have tribal sovereignty at the forefront, said Daryl Vigil, Jicarilla Apache Nation water administrator and a staunch advocate for tribal inclusion in water management issues. Beginning Monday . Traders could exploit volatility, whether due to drought, failing infrastructure or government restrictions. "It's very early planting," he says. And it had to be a pretty good process, because it lasted 100 years.. The price had risen tenfold in a matter of months. Today, the river provides water to 40 million people and 5.5 million acres of farmland not just in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and California but also to 29 Native American tribes and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California. The deadline for public submissions is Dec. 20 for a process expected to yield a final report by summer. 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. LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Lake Mead will be one foot higher by the end of the week after the release of water from Glen Canyon into the Colorado River. Its quite possible that there just wont be as much San Juan-Chama water available in the future because of drought and climate change.. hide caption. But we will not serve as an emergency reservoir for uncontrollable, unsustainable urban sprawl, Cardenas said. 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. hide caption. Lake Powell in Big Water, Utah. It is just in the wrong places. Surge of Colorado River water reaches Lake Mead - ktla.com The last time the feds utilized the high-flow experiment was back in 2018. 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. The interested players range from financial firms to university endowments to investor groups, including at least two in Colorado led by former governors. The reality is we have an overallocated river, said Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the largest water supplier in the country. Feds Will Cut States' Access to Colorado River Water 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. Updated: Apr 26, 2023 / 01:55 PM PDT. Florida Public Utilities, a part of Chesapeake Utilities. A field of alfalfa, freshly cut, dries in the sun. The Colorado River provides water for one out of every eight Americans for residential, indus-trial, mining, agricultural, and recreational needs. In fact, it's 5 feet. "There's been a bad crop in northern California. (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 . As a result, the talks starting in January will be a vehicle for urgent attempts to manage the water, including replenishing downstream reservoirs. It will be baled into hay and fed to cattle such as those in the feedlot at the far end of the field. 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. 5 Major Consumers of Water That Might Surprise You 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. In exchange, San Diego pays the irrigation district more than $100 million each year. David Morris, the water utility spokesman for the city and county, said the Colorado River water has allowed the region to wean itself off of unsustainable groundwater pumping. Hay, corn, wheat, sorghum, and millet are the top five. Associated Press journalists Brittany Peterson in Denver, Sam Metz in Salt Lake City and Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report. Water Law in Colorado 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. Rio Grande flows in Albuquerque are closely tied to the Colorado via the San Juan-Chama Drinking Water Project. Steve Benson returned to the family business, Benson Farms in Brawley, Calif., after a career in engineering and real estate. Just kind of a nightmare, Mr. U.S. states struggle to share dwindling waters of Colorado River US rivers and lakes are shrinking for a surprising reason: cows As of Wednesday morning, the surge of water released from the Glen Canyon Dam has reached Lake Mead, KTLA's sister station KLAS reports. Reclamation water managers responded with plans to hold back more water in Lake Powell but warned that Lake Mead water levels would drop. There is plenty. But less snowpack and spring runoff resulting from climate change have led to several consecutive years when the utility and other New Mexico entities have received far less water than expected from the inter-basin project. hide caption. Everybody got a little, he added. The proponents of water markets say they are not in it just for the money. Where water investors have historically gotten involved in markets is through agriculture, with mixed results. Lurking in those details, though, is a bigger and more worrisome question. "The droughts that we are seeing are becoming that much more severe because of the temperature component, they're warmer," Bolinger said. CNN Deep uncertainty looms over the Colorado River and the 40 million people who depend on it for their water supply as the basin enters a critical year that could determine its future. Lake Mead was at 100% capacity in mid-1999. "Instead of eight cuttings of alfalfa, we might turn off the water in the summer and dry up the field, and let it come back in the fall," Benson says. 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. Article 16, Section 5. Farmers, however, would almost certainly challenge such an order in court. An earlier version of this story stated that the Imperial Irrigation District's allotment of Colorado River water is enough to cover all of its irrigated land with 5 inches of water. The market in the Colorado-Big Thompson Project is also nimble and responsive. 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. Officials fear complete doomsday scenario for drought-stricken Colorado River. Lake Powell, last full in June 1980, is at 25%. 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.

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