Topline
The Biden administration announced unprecedented cuts Tuesday to the amount of water that can be taken from the Colorado River by Arizona, Nevada and Mexico as climate change drives a drought crisis in one of the United States’ most important river systems, depleting some of the nation’s largest reservoirs that millions depend on for water.
People take in the view from the Nevada side of the Hoover Dam, with drought-stricken Lake Mead in … [+]
Key Facts
The Interior Department said it projects that water levels in Lake Mead–the largest reservoir in the country–will be below 1,050 feet above sea level by January and meet the threshold for the department to declare a Tier 2 shortage for the first time.
Arizona’s yearly water allotment will be slashed 21% next year, Nevada’s will be reduced 8% and Mexico’s 7%, the Interior Department said.
In January, the water level in Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the U.S., is projected to be just 32 feet above the threshold to be able to generate hydropower at the Glen Canyon Dam, which is imperative in the operation of regional electric grids.
The prolonged drought and low runoff conditions has been accelerated by climate change, and Interior Department Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudrau said the “extreme heat and low precipitation” has also exacerbated the risk of wildfire, which has plagued areas of the west coast this summer.
Tangent
With water levels at Lake Mead falling to the lowest in 80 years, at least four sets of human skeletal remains have been found in the reservoir. The body of a man who had been shot and stored in a barrel between the 1970s and 1980s has been speculated to have been linked to a mob hit.
News Peg
President Joe Biden on Tuesday afternoon signed the Inflation Reduction Act, a sweeping climate, health and tax bill that includes $4 billion earmarked for drought relief including financial incentives for farmers, businesses and communities to cut water usage.
Key Background
The Colorado River Basin is reaching “a tipping point” in its 23-year drought, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said Thursday, according to CNN. “Without action we cannot protect the system and the millions of Americans who rely on this resource,” she said. More than 40 million people depend on the Colorado River Basin for at least some of their water use, according to the New York Times. The reductions announced Tuesday are in addition to cuts announced in 2021, when a water shortage at Lake Mead was first declared by the government.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/08/16/us-announces-major-colorado-river-water-cuts-amid-historic-western-drought/