“Immediate action” is needed to avoid depleting Colorado reservoirs, which could cause a water crisis next year, according to the head of the US Bureau of Reclamation.
News movement: The mega-soul caused by Western climate change has submerged the country’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, to historically low levels. “Between 2 million acres and 4 million acres, additional conservation is needed only to protect critical levels in 2023,” Camille Kalimlim Tuton of the Bureau said on Tuesday.
- The commissioner noted during a hearing on the Capitol Hill Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that “there are so many things in this that are unprecedented … but the reality and the normal in which Reclamation must run our systems is unprecedented. “.
- “The challenges we see today are unlike anything we have seen in our history,” she said.
Threat level: An April report found that the river, which provides drinking water to 40 million people in seven states and 30 tribal nations, is the most endangered waterway in the United States and the “zero point for the climate and water crisis” in the West.
- John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Administration, which supplies the Las Vegas area, said during a Senate hearing: “We are 150 feet out of 25 million Americans who are losing access to the Colorado River, and the rate of decline is declining. accelerates.
- “What is a 20-year-long catastrophe is accelerating and the moment of calculation is near,” he said.
What’s going on: Touton said the Bureau is taking short-term action to prevent Lakes Mead and Powell from reaching the Dead Pool, where water levels are so low they can’t cross the dam.
- “It is a priority for us to come up with a plan to fill this gap in the next 60 days,” she said.
Note: About 80% of the Colorado River is used for agriculture and “80% of that 80% is used for forage crops such as alfalfa, which is grown primarily for cattle,” Enzminger told senators.
- “I do not suggest that farmers stop farming, but rather carefully consider the choice of crops and make the necessary investments to optimize the efficiency of irrigation,” said Enzminger. “By reducing the use of Colorado water, farmers are defending their own interests.
Yes, but Patrick O’Toole, president of the Family Farm Alliance, told the hearing that taking water from agriculture could affect rural communities, produce food and increase food imports.
Be smart: Entsminger said that while the situation is grim, it is not unresolved, and cited Nevada’s water-saving policies, including paying customers to replace grass with plants, setting mandatory irrigation schedules and strictly enforcing waste rules. of water as solutions that others could implement.
- “We have removed enough grass to lay a roll of grass all over the land, and we are not ready,” he added, citing plans to tighten grass restrictions, improve irrigation efficiency and reduce evaporative cooling.
- Entsminger and other water officials discussed with senators during the hearing how the federal government could improve the situation by funding infrastructure projects such as wastewater recycling facilities.
- O’Toole suggested conserving water and improving forest health, saying farmers “will need to make our ability to grow the same amount of food with less water a priority.”
Go deeper: Colorado’s new drought discovery shows how bad things can get
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