As water crisis worsens on Colorado River, an urgent call for Western states to 'act now'

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

With the Colorado River’s depleted reservoirs continuing to drop to new lows, the federal government has taken the unprecedented step of telling the seven Western states that rely on the river to find ways of drastically cutting the amount of water they take in the next two months.

The Interior Department is seeking the emergency cuts to reduce the risks of Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country’s two largest reservoirs, declining to dangerously low levels next year.

“We have urgent needs to act now,” Tanya Trujillo, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science, said during a speech on Thursday. “We need to be taking action in all states, in all sectors, and in all available ways.”

Trujillo’s virtual remarks to a conference at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder underscored the dire state of the river under the stresses of climate change, and the urgency of scaling up the region’s response to stop the reservoirs from falling further. She provided details about the federal government’s approach to the crisis two days after Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton announced that major cuts of between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet will be needed next year to keep reservoirs from dropping to “critical levels.”

https://news.yahoo.com/colorado-river-reservoirs-drop-western-120055974.html

[elleng]

1. 'the federal government has taken the unprecedented step of telling the seven Western states

that rely on the river to find ways of drastically cutting the amount of water they take in the next two months.'

[Hugh_Lebowski]

2. For an AZ homeowner who's house is worth a lot ATM ...

Feels like 'the gittin's good'.

If it comes to be known worldwide that the region is about to have a severe H2O shortage ... home values will fall drastically.

[hunter]

5. Farmers will be crushed first.

Urban and suburban users outnumber them and will wield the greater political power. Water flows uphill to money.

Directly, or more likely indirectly, desalinated water is going to keep the Central Arizona Project flowing.

That water will be too expensive for farmers and ranchers, however.

I think if I lived in Arizona or Southern California I wouldn't want work dependent on agriculture. I'd also worry about the integrity of the electric grid.

Disclaimer: I've got Arizona and Southern California family, friends, and work acquaintances in the thick of this.

On the upper Colorado River Basin everyone but urban water users entirely independent of the agricultural industries are pretty much screwed. All they can do is pray for rain.

[thatdemguy]

3. I like the idea of a water tax

You get 50 gallons a day per house for free, with a small adder per person. After that a tax of 1 dollar a gallon.

Sure people will complain, but expensive as hell water is still cheaper than no water.

[in2herbs]

4. A tax is always the fall back to "fix" a problem. IMO this solution will cause great hardship

on individuals and families already struggling to make ends meet. My AZ household uses about 250 gallons per day and conservation methods are followed. Why not demand that hotels, commercial establishments, residential properties and any other facility with water/design features --- including swimming pools -- first be required to shut the water off to these features or suffer a tax. Restaurants should stop serving water automatically to patrons and should consider charging patrons for a glass of water with their meals. We pay for other beverages with our meals, why not water??

[hunter]

6. Compare to Catalina Island in California.

Water is very expensive there, especially in the dry season.

Lower income residential users pay about three cents a gallon, up to 2,000 gallons a month. Commercial users can pay six times that.

I think a lot of Southwestern U.S. cities will find themselves in similar situations but that doesn't mean they are doomed.

[Colbert]

7. Facilities with water/design features

... or just high water usage - Golf courses for instance. The desert is not the place to host facilities that require large expanses of manicured grass requiring irrigation. The only golf club you should need in the desert is a sand wedge.

But golf is what draws many retirees to desert spots in the desert southwest. So graduate the cost of water based upon the amount used per facility. The costs will be passed on to the members of the various country clubs and they can decide whether they want to stay or leave. The biggest problem is the number of people living there and the water-rich habits they have. It's a desert - it's resources are limited.