Here's a wrapup of the 30th Western Water Workshop held last week in Gunnison from the Cortez Journal.
From the article, "'The numbers don't add up,' said Doug Kenney of the Natural Resources Law Center of the University of Colorado. 'This river was in trouble before we ran into this drought.' Environmentalists have questioned the sustainability of the Colorado River for years, but Kenney is concerned because water managers have begun saying the same thing.
"The demand on the Colorado River averages 15.4 million acre-feet per year, Kenney said. The long-term average flow is 14.8 million, leaving a shortfall that eventually could further deplete the two reservoirs which regulate flows - Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
"Because of the prolonged drought the levels of both lakes are well below average, a source of contention between upper and lower basin states. Upper basin states, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, are required to deliver 8.23 million acre feet annually through Lake Powell, located on the Arizona-Utah border. Lower basin states, Arizona, California and Nevada, store flows in Lake Mead, located on the Arizona-Nevada border...
"Eric Kuhn, manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District in Glenwood Springs, came up with a slightly different conclusion. Kuhn said Colorado still has not fully appropriated its share of the Colorado River, and the pressure lies with growth downstream.
"'The worlds are so different between the upper basin and the lower basin, and it's going to take a lot to bridge the gap,' Kuhn said. 'There has been a huge change in the balance between the two basins and the problem is not the drought, but overuse in the lower basin.'"
Category: Colorado Water
7:14:57 AM
|