Colorado River Drought Task Force has worked up recommendations for protecting rivers and wildlife habitat, fixing leaking water delivery systems and adding flexibility to shared water programs
drought plan
Posted inWater
Southwest states given more time to agree on water cuts to prevent largest reservoirs from reaching critically low levels
Despite giving states more time to negotiate, federal officials said some cuts were coming to parts of the Colorado River Basin
Posted inNews
Cloud seeding might not be as promising as drought-troubled states hope
William R. Cotton, Colorado State University On mountain peaks scattered across Colorado, machines are set up to fire chemicals into the clouds in attempts to generate snow. The process is called cloud seeding, and as global temperatures rise, more countries and drought-troubled states are using it in sometimes desperate efforts to modify the weather. But […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government, Wildfire
One-third of Colorado is now in a severe drought, mostly in the south
Drought conditions are setting in across most of Colorado, and that has top state officials worried about wildfire, crop losses and water restrictions. Nearly 83% of Colorado is experiencing abnormally dry conditions and 33% is reporting extreme or severe drought, as of Tuesday, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported, up slightly from the week before. A […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Politics and Government, Water
Deep mountain snow raised Lake Mead, Lake Powell water lines. But for the first time, supply cuts loom downstream.
Bountiful snow in the Rocky Mountains last winter buoyed levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, but not enough to prevent the first-ever mandatory cuts in water delivery for Arizona and Nevada under drought contingency plans finalized this spring by the states that rely on the Colorado River Basin. Lake Mead will enter 2020 just […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Politics and Government, Water
Congress OKs “pain-sharing agreement” to deal with Colorado River drought, starting water-use cuts across seven states
PHOENIX — The diverse, yet unified, politicians from seven states hailing this week’s swift passage of legislation supporting the installation of drought contingency plans to protect the Colorado River have taken the first step in what promises to be a long and painful process. Everyone in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, News, Politics and Government
“We all recognize we’re looking at a drier future”: Official declares Colorado River drought plan complete
By Felicia Fonseca,The Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Seven states that rely on a major waterway in the U.S. West have finished a yearslong effortto create a plan to protect the Colorado River amid a prolonged drought, the federal government declared Tuesday. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman commended Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Politics and Government
The plan to protect the Colorado River still isn’t done. Now what?
By Felicia Fonseca, The Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Another federal deadline passed Monday for seven states in the U.S. West to wrap up work on a plan to ensure the drought-stricken Colorado River can deliver water to the 40 million people and farms that depend on it. The states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, News, Water
Colorado, 5 other Western states are against a deadline for Colorado River drought plan
By Felicia Fonseca, The Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Western states are watching with interest as Arizona comes up against a deadline to approve a plan to ensure a key reservoir doesn’t become unusable for the farmers, cities, tribes and developers that depend on it. The other six states in the Colorado River basin have […]