DILLIGAF
08-21-2007, 02:02 AM
Looking at the pics of Powellfest made me cringe a bit as I saw how much the water level is down. Last fall when I went to Mead I felt the same way. It isn't getting better anytime soon :(
Water shortage looms as lake levels plunge
By JOHN RUDOLF
Monday, August 20, 2007 10:04 PM MST
With Lake MeadÂ’s water levels plunging toward record lows and allocations throughout the lower Colorado River basin stretched to the limit, Lake Havasu City faces a potential shortfall in its allotted water in the coming years, the cityÂ’s water resources coordinator will say tonight at a special City Council session.
“If the federal government starts to hold back water, we’ll be impacted immediately,” said Doyle Wilson, the city’s top water official. “We are preparing for that scenario if that happens.”
Lake MeadÂ’s water is now at 1,111 feet above sea level. If it continues to drop below a predetermined level, the federal government will declare a shortage.
WilsonÂ’s presentation will cover the possibility of such an event, and explain the details of an upcoming decision by the Bureau of Reclamation, which will govern how a water shortage is dealt with in Arizona and the other lower basin states.
Lake Mead has only dropped below 1,100 feet twice in its history, in 1965 and 1955. It reached capacity in the late 1930s.
Bob Hart, a supervisory hydrologist with the U.S. Geological SurveyÂ’s Arizona Water Science Center, said a combination of increasing water demand from the Colorado River and a drought that is approaching its 10th year have led to steadily dropping levels in Lake Mead.
“It all plays together,” he said.
Not only are drought conditions driving communities to take more water out of the river, the snow pack in Colorado that feeds the river has been melting too early in the spring.
“The runoff has been there, but the volume doesn’t make it to the reservoirs,” he said. “We’ve had numerous years like that.”
With spring coming more suddenly, the snow pack simply does not last into the summer as it once did, providing a steady, even flow to the river. Instead the snow melts all at once, soaking into the ground instead of into streams that feed the river.
The result is less water reaching Lake Mead and Lake Powell, even in years of heavy snowfall in the Rockies.
Combined with drought conditions in the Southwest and intense growth in urban areas such as Phoenix, the recipe was set for an epic battle over water rights.
“There’s only so much water in the river, and it’s the most overused, overallocated river in the country,” Hart said. “Arizona is the fastest-growing state in the country, and there’s much more demand.”
The states of the lower Colorado River basin are tapped out on their water allocations, Wilson said.
“Arizona uses about all of its 2.8 million acre-feet,” he said. “California is also pretty much maxed out, and so is Nevada.”
An acre-foot is about 325,000 gallons of water.
Under the current rules governing the water distribution from the Colorado River, Lake Havasu City is considered a forth-priority user, behind cities or entities such as Indian tribes, military bases or cities with water-use agreements older than 1968, or in some cases the 1920s.
The Central Arizona Project, which provides water for Phoenix and Tucson, also qualifies as a fourth-priority user.
WilsonÂ’s testimony will include the many steps the city has taken in recent years to soften the blow of a potential shortage, such as deals with neighboring municipalities to buy extraneous water supply, he said. Also up for discussion will be steps the city and its residents must take if and when water allocations are cut. The cityÂ’s present per-capita water usage is about 235 gallons per day, Wilson said.
You may contact the reporter at jrudolf@havasunews.com.
Water shortage looms as lake levels plunge
By JOHN RUDOLF
Monday, August 20, 2007 10:04 PM MST
With Lake MeadÂ’s water levels plunging toward record lows and allocations throughout the lower Colorado River basin stretched to the limit, Lake Havasu City faces a potential shortfall in its allotted water in the coming years, the cityÂ’s water resources coordinator will say tonight at a special City Council session.
“If the federal government starts to hold back water, we’ll be impacted immediately,” said Doyle Wilson, the city’s top water official. “We are preparing for that scenario if that happens.”
Lake MeadÂ’s water is now at 1,111 feet above sea level. If it continues to drop below a predetermined level, the federal government will declare a shortage.
WilsonÂ’s presentation will cover the possibility of such an event, and explain the details of an upcoming decision by the Bureau of Reclamation, which will govern how a water shortage is dealt with in Arizona and the other lower basin states.
Lake Mead has only dropped below 1,100 feet twice in its history, in 1965 and 1955. It reached capacity in the late 1930s.
Bob Hart, a supervisory hydrologist with the U.S. Geological SurveyÂ’s Arizona Water Science Center, said a combination of increasing water demand from the Colorado River and a drought that is approaching its 10th year have led to steadily dropping levels in Lake Mead.
“It all plays together,” he said.
Not only are drought conditions driving communities to take more water out of the river, the snow pack in Colorado that feeds the river has been melting too early in the spring.
“The runoff has been there, but the volume doesn’t make it to the reservoirs,” he said. “We’ve had numerous years like that.”
With spring coming more suddenly, the snow pack simply does not last into the summer as it once did, providing a steady, even flow to the river. Instead the snow melts all at once, soaking into the ground instead of into streams that feed the river.
The result is less water reaching Lake Mead and Lake Powell, even in years of heavy snowfall in the Rockies.
Combined with drought conditions in the Southwest and intense growth in urban areas such as Phoenix, the recipe was set for an epic battle over water rights.
“There’s only so much water in the river, and it’s the most overused, overallocated river in the country,” Hart said. “Arizona is the fastest-growing state in the country, and there’s much more demand.”
The states of the lower Colorado River basin are tapped out on their water allocations, Wilson said.
“Arizona uses about all of its 2.8 million acre-feet,” he said. “California is also pretty much maxed out, and so is Nevada.”
An acre-foot is about 325,000 gallons of water.
Under the current rules governing the water distribution from the Colorado River, Lake Havasu City is considered a forth-priority user, behind cities or entities such as Indian tribes, military bases or cities with water-use agreements older than 1968, or in some cases the 1920s.
The Central Arizona Project, which provides water for Phoenix and Tucson, also qualifies as a fourth-priority user.
WilsonÂ’s testimony will include the many steps the city has taken in recent years to soften the blow of a potential shortage, such as deals with neighboring municipalities to buy extraneous water supply, he said. Also up for discussion will be steps the city and its residents must take if and when water allocations are cut. The cityÂ’s present per-capita water usage is about 235 gallons per day, Wilson said.
You may contact the reporter at jrudolf@havasunews.com.