Nevada, Arizona and California tentatively agreed last weekend to decrease their water use in an effort to rescue their lifeline, the Colorado River.
In return, the states will receive $1.2 billion in federal funds for those whose livelihoods will be directly impacted by the cutbacks. Besides water districts and municipalities, individuals will include farmers. Agriculture is the single largest user of the precious resource.
The three-year agreement will reduce water usage by an estimated 13 percent, hopefully enough to stay further damage until significant changes due by 2026 can be agreed upon.
The river’s level has dropped 20 percent over the past 20 years due to climate change, an increased demand created by the Southwest’s growing population and an unwillingness to address the situation.
Even though a generous snowpack from an unusually wet winter has briefly lifted negotiators’ spirits, they know the future is grim and that much tougher decisions lie ahead.
The Colorado provides drinking water for 40 million across seven states and 30 Tribal Nations and irrigates 5.5 million acres of farmland.
The Colorado River’s dams at Lake Powell and Lake Mead — the country’s largest — generate electricity for millions of homes and industries. Last summer, the water level was so low that officials feared the dams’ hydroelectric turbines would cease to operate and that the dams would essentially block what water there was from flowing out to the lower basin.
How to make do with less is the unenviable goal.
And sooner or later, the answers will apply to us all.
— Susan Lynn
