A multi-billion recreation industry including whitewater rafting, boating, fishing, camping, and hiking.Water used to produce about 15% of the produce and livestock in the US.Water for more than 30 million people in seven US states and Mexico.Electricity (from hydroelectric plants at major dams).The river supplies the following resources and activities enjoyed by 15 million people a year: Originally a wild and untamed river, manmade dams, dikes, and canals were constructed over time to control manage it. The river stretches 1,450 miles from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California in Mexico. To begin your tree-ring science expedition to the Colorado River Basin, you will investigate its physical characteristics and learn how the water is used and apportioned by those who live there. Specifically, California’s Colorado River Board mentioned bolstered collaboration to stabilize the Salton Sea in Southern California that has been shrinking due to other conservation efforts.Part 1: Straws in the Colorado River: Will We Run Out of Water? The current guidelines, set in 2007, were placed to provide certainty to water users about timing and amounts of potential water delivery reductions in the face of required conservation measures.Ĭalifornia said that to meet conservation guidelines, it will need federal funding and support for cross-state coordination. California claimed the other states’ proposal interfered with the current agreement, overstepped on its senior water rights and did not offer a resolution for cutbacks imposed on its residents. The state said this method would protect reservoir levels while prioritizing human health and safety. An acre-foot is about what two average houses use in a year. The Colorado River, home to the massive Hoover and Glen Canyon dams, supports 40 million people, almost 6 million acres of agriculture and tribal communities across seven states and portions of Mexico, according to California’s Colorado River Board.Ĭalifornia countered with a plan that would put a greater burden of cuts on Arizona while it pledged to conserve up to another 400,000 acre-feet of water a year. While the Colorado River’s supply mainly serves Southern California, repercussions could eventually echo up and down the state. Most politicians and officials agree drought and overuse have resulted in such low water levels that action must be taken, but it is also possible that a proposal that is not on the table now comes through. The question federal and state officials are weighing is: How much will they each need to cut?Ĭalifornia, the largest beneficiary of the river’s supply, would face starkly different changes based on which proposal is selected. The Arizona Republic/USA Today Network WASHINGTONĭespite a wet winter, California and other western states will still need to cut back how much water they draw from the Colorado River. A bathtub ring is visible on the shoreline because of low water levels. Virgin Canyon in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, on the Arizona-Nevada border in 2021.
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