Enough messing around. Will the feds mandate cuts to save #LakeMead or not? If Colorado River states can’t save enough water in 2023, Lake Mead is done. It’s time for the feds to say (and mean) it: Will they step in if we fail? – AZCentral.com #ColoradoRiver #COriver #aridification

1. Here’s the latest version of my 4-Panel plot thru Water Year (Oct-Sep) of 2021 of the Colorado River big reservoirs, natural flows, precipitation, and temperature. Data (PRISM) goes back or 1906 (or 1935 for reservoirs.) This updates previous work with @GreatLakesPeck . pic.twitter.com/cUjHQ9BJsg

— Brad Udall (@bradudall) October 17, 2021

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Brad Udall: Here’s the latest version of my 4-Panel plot thru Water Year (Oct-Sep) of 2021 of the Colorado River big reservoirs, natural flows, precipitation, and temperature. Data (PRISM) goes back or 1906 (or 1935 for reservoirs.) This updates previous work with @GreatLakesPeck. Credit: Brad Udall via Twitter

” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/coyotegulch.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/brad-udall-4-panel-plot-thru-water-year-2021- colorado-river-mead-powell-10172021.jpeg?fit=232%2C300&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/coyotegulch.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/10 /brad-udall-4-panel-plot-thru-water-year-2021-colorado-river-mead-powell-10172021.jpeg?fit=612%2C792&ssl=1″ decoding=”async” width=”612″ height =”792″ data-src=”https://i0.wp.com/coyotegulch.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/brad-udall-4-panel-plot-thru-water-year-2021-colorado -river-mead-powell-10172021.jpeg?resize=612%2C792&ssl=1″ alt=”” class=”wp-image-130181 jetpack-lazy-image” data-recalc-dims=”1″ data-lazy- data-srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/coyotegulch.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/brad-udall-4-panel-plot-thru-water-year-2021-colorado-river-mead -powell-10172021.jpeg?w=612&ssl=1 612w, https://i0.wp.com/coyotegulch.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/brad-udall-4-panel-plot-thru- water-year-2021-colorado-river-mead-powell-10172021.jpeg?res ize=232%2C300&ssl=1 232w, https://i0.wp.com/coyotegulch.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/brad-udall-4-panel-plot-thru-water-year-2021 -colorado-river-mead-powell-10172021.jpeg?resize=314%2C406&ssl=1 314w” data-lazy-sizes=”(max-width: 612px) 100vw, 612px” data-lazy-src=”https:/ /i0.wp.com/coyotegulch.blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/brad-udall-4-panel-plot-thru-water-year-2021-colorado-river-mead-powell-10172021.jpeg ?resize=612%2C792&is-pending-load=1#038;ssl=1″ srcset=”https://news.google.com/data:image/gif;base64,https://news.google.com/ R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7″/>Brad Udall: Here’s the latest version of my 4-Panel plot thru Water Year (Oct-Sep) of 2021 of the Colorado River big reservoirs, natural flows, precipitation, and temperature. Data (PRISM) goes back or 1906 (or 1935 for reservoirs.) This updates previous work with @GreatLakesPeck. Credit: Brad Udall via Twitter

Click the link to read the column on the AZCentral.com website (Joanna Allhands). Here’s an exception:

The Gila River Indian Community now says it will conserve 125,000 acre-feet of its own water each year for three years and make available for purchase another 125,000 acre-feet of water it has stored underground for others – mostly, central Arizona cities – to leave more water in Lake Mead during that time. The hope is that this will entice others to follow suit – and that might help finally break the logjam on the additional 2 to 4 million acre-feet of Colorado River water that states must stop using next year, simply to keep Lake Mead and the upstream Lake Powell on life support.

We’re nowhere near to saving Lake Mead

Credit the tribe for leading by example. But don’t expect much to change. Farmers must be on board to achieve this magnitude of savings, considering that agriculture uses the lion’s share of water in Arizona and across the Colorado River basin. Yet many are balking at the price the feds have put on the table. And we’re still woefully short of saving enough water to save the lakes. The Upper Basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, which rely on Lake Powell, have been adamant that the bulk of cuts should fall on the Lower Basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada, which rely on Lake Mead. California recently sent a letter to the feds saying it would be willing to conserve 400,000 acre-feet each year for the next three years, if it gets money to help stabilize the environmental disaster that is the Salton Sea…

Add in Gila River’s proposal, and that’s 650,000 acre-feet on the table in 2023. Another million (or so) acre-feet of water could be in play if the feds carry through with their promise to begin “charging” the Lower Basin states for water lost to evaporation and transit, which the Upper Basin already pays but the Lower Basin pretends doesn’t exist.

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