Irrigation canals that are currently simple ditches in the dirt could be lined with concrete, to prevent water from seeping into the ground. "Instead of eight cuttings of alfalfa, we might turn off the water in the summer and dry up the field, and let it come back in the fall," Benson says. When the states struck their agreement 100 years ago, it envisaged the river could provide 20 million acre-feet of water a year. He believes that the last best hope against the drought is a market-based solution, one that allows private investors seeking a profit a significant hand in redrawing the map of water distribution in the West. Today, they are at 26%. Demand for Colorado River water picked up in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Close to 40 million people use water from the Colorado River. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. As Colorados water commissioner, he piloted a demand-management program and was known for crisscrossing Colorados back roads to convince skeptical farmers of the benefits of the approach. Instead, farmers are hoping for a deal in which the government will pay them to use less water. Andrew Leimgruber grows alfalfa and vegetables on his family's farm in the Imperial Valley. Along both banks, a few hundred acres produce lush alfalfa and cotton, amid one of the more arid and menacing environments in North America. "You have a lot of leverage if you have a lot of water.". In Colorado, which is both an agricultural state and an outdoor recreation magnet, water is not just critical to the economy but an emotional part of the states identity and a political third rail. In 2006, Pueblo West agreed to irrigate and revive the land. In theory, water saved by demand management could flow to the account, often called a pool within the pool, and be drawn upon if the current drought continues to realize worst-case scenarios. In Australia, however, water markets have had unintended consequences. Whats being done? Australia has also seen the advent of a market in complex financial products, such as derivatives, based on water. Fourth in a series. Felt said. Mr. The Colorado River, which provides drinking water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, is drying up, straining a water distribution pact amid the worst drought in 12 centuries, exacerbated . A resilient future on the Colorado must have tribal sovereignty at the forefront, said Daryl Vigil, Jicarilla Apache Nation water administrator and a staunch advocate for tribal inclusion in water management issues. The Biden administration helped pave the way for that offer by pledging $250 million for environmental projects to address the dust-ravaged shorelines around the Salton Sea, Californias largest lake, thats fed by agricultural runoff from the Imperial Valley. Nevada, Arizona and Mexico will all receive less water from the Colorado River next year because of rapidly-declining reservoirs, the Interior Department announced on Aug. 16. Mr. Eklund secured an account in Lake Powell. The snowpack in the Rocky Mountains, the main source of runoff that feeds the Colorado River system, is also higher than normal but not by as much as in California. Where water investors have historically gotten involved in markets is through agriculture, with mixed results. Dan Charles for NPR Sign up for the Climate Coach newsletter, in your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday. It powers agricultural land and urban areas, serving roughly 1 in 10 Americans. "Something will have to give," said Sharon Megdal, director of the University of Arizona's Water Resources Research Center. Dan Charles for NPR In September, Nasdaq and CME Group, the worlds largest derivatives marketplace, announced plans to open a futures market for California water, joining it with commodities like Brent crude oil and soybeans. This area gets less attention than California's Central Valley, the nation's leading producer of produce and nuts, which draws its water from rain and snow in the Sierra Mountains, or pumps it from shrinking underground aquifers. But here there was nothing to see: just an empty field of ankle-high weeds and crimson splotches of peat. The current canal, built during the New Deal and called the All-American Canal, delivers enough water to the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) each year to cover all of its irrigated land almost 800 square miles with 5 feet of water. The reality is we have an overallocated river, said Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the largest water supplier in the country. In the winter, 90% of vegetables consumed in both the US and Canada are grown with Colorado River water. Selling the rights to a Rocky Mountain trout stream or a hayfield dating from the pioneer era to nonlocal interests, especially those seeking to turn a profit, has the potential to be seen as auctioning state patrimony. Having a seat at the table means working with every tribe to learn their specific water rights and needs.. 2. And now, water officials are grappling with how to make do with less. Anyone can read what you share. Theres a problem of aridification. Living with less water in the U.S. Southwest is the focus this week for a conference in Las Vegas about the drought-stricken and overpromised Colorado River, Colorado River Water Users Convening Amid Crisis Concerns, FILE - A buoy sits high and dry on cracked earth previously under the waters of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Boulder City, Nev., on June 28, 2022. I have seen time and again the wisdom of using incentives that attract private sector investment and innovation, Mr. Eklund said. Theyd have to have a storage account of their own in a federal reservoir, and from my perspective thats a nonstarter, Mr. Mueller said. In 2001, Pueblo West, a planned community 100 miles away, came calling. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the worlds largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day. But Mr. Eklund denies that the firm is flipping water rights. Construction of the original canal was marked by epic engineering failure. Today, tribes are at the table and a Mexico delegation is due to attend the conference. of your water comes from the Colorado River. Agriculture uses some 80 percent of the rivers water and also tends to have the most senior rights, some dating back to the 19th century. Published: Apr. Its important for us to invest in things like outdoor water conservation and reuse, Morris said. Other fields are covered with alfalfa or grass that will become feed for cattle. Touton and two top Interior Department officials are scheduled to address the conference on Friday. 24, 2023 at 11:45 PM PDT. Private investors would like to bring in or amplify existing elements of Wall Street for the water industry, such as futures markets and trading that occurs in milliseconds. If we can get water users within places like the San Juan Basin to agree to shortage sharing agreements, then theres no need for strict priority administration, he said. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. Click here to see how reuse and recycling could fit in to the West's strategy to save the Colorado River. Florida Power & Light, a part of NextEra Energy. The High Flow Experiment and its gushing water will ultimately decrease Lake Powell levels by 4.5 feet from April 24 to April 27. But from the perspective of other states even those cuts wouldnt be nearly enough. Because the Colorado River is so large, envisioning the local impacts of water transfers can be a challenge for decision makers, especially when the communities are as remote as Cibola. Tags: Associated Press, New Mexico, Wyoming, natural disasters, Colorado, Nevada, California, allergies, Arizona, Utah. But the basins water is essential for the states largest city: Albuquerque. Colorado River tributaries in New Mexico bring water to the alfalfa fields in the Four Corners and the forested hills of the Gila wilderness in the southwestern part of the state. Those forage crops, which cover the majority of the land, aren't usually as valuable as vegetables. From April through September, tours commence at 9 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with . Everybody gave a little. "The reality is, we'll probably be taking more of our summers off. Editing by Nick Macfie, Trump accuser defends rape claim after judge rejects Trump's mistrial request, Biden calls for meeting as US to run short of cash June 1, Biden urges Republicans take debt default off table, warns interest rates would jump, American Airlines pilots authorize a strike mandate, Donald Trump arrives in Scotland for short golfing trip, UK inflation expectations ease as BoE considers next rate hike, ACLU sues Montana House Speaker for silencing transgender legislator, Kuwait again dissolves reinstated parliament by decree, Bolsonaro steals show at Brazil's biggest farm fair. The two lakes, combined, were at 92% capacity in 1999, Bunk noted. The compact contains a fail-safe mechanism if the river runs too low. Ron DeSantis, finding no legal basis for allegations that the governor violated campaign finance laws with a shadow run for the White House, North Carolina's attorney general is urging lawmakers to adopt several crime prevention proposals to tackle gun violence, the opioid crisis and the state's backlog of sexual assault cases, The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says the bodies of seven people have been discovered during the search for two missing teenagers. This years meeting of water recipients begins Wednesday at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip. Californias cuts dont kick in until later essentially a gamble on good hydrology once again helping us avoid conflict by letting us use more water in the short term, Fleck wrote on his blog. "On the one hand, you have the most disadvantaged community, but in the same community you have some of the richest farmers!" Former U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Scotland on Monday for a short trip to visit his golf courses in the country and in Ireland. Ron DeSantis, finding no legal basis for allegations that the governor violated campaign finance laws with a shadow run for the White House, North Carolina's attorney general is urging lawmakers to adopt several crime prevention proposals to tackle gun violence, the opioid crisis and the state's backlog of sexual assault cases, The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says the bodies of seven people have been discovered during the search for two missing teenagers. Camille Touton, bureau commissioner, tempered a warning during the water webinars about federal intervention she called it moving forward on the initiation of administrative actions with a vow to find a collective solution to the challenges that we face today.. His water district uses about 2.6 million acre-feet of water per year to irrigate more than 400,000 acres of farmland for alfalfa, grasses and other crops. Drafted in 1922, it allocates the rivers annual flow, dividing the water among seven states desperate for their share. But despite the dismal forecast for the future of water on the Colorado, some conservationists are hoping to return at least a portion of the delta to its former glory. In the West, few issues carry the political charge of water. A field of alfalfa, freshly cut, dries in the sun. Thats the dilemma looking at how we can reduce demand with as soft a blow as possible, Hamman said. In the winter, 90% of vegetables consumed in both the US and Canada are grown with Colorado River water. One of the central tensions of these complicated negotiations is how to balance cuts between farming regions against those in cities, including major population centers. An engineering marvel from the heyday of federal water construction, the project is a vast network or reservoirs filled by a tunnel that pipes water from the Colorado River 13 miles under the Continental Divide. But for more than a hundred years, millions of people have relied on the water that flows into the Colorado River from the Rocky Mountain snowpack. It will be baled into hay and fed to cattle such as those in the feedlot at the far end of the field. he says. About 70% is allocated for irrigation, sustaining a $15 billion-a-year agricultural industry that supplies 90% of U.S. winter vegetables. FILE - A buoy sits high and dry on cracked earth previously under the waters of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead . Hernandez says that the crisis on the Colorado River provides a time for the predominantly white people who've claimed that water and the wealth and power that came with it to share more of it. If this water is to be sold to anyone outside the Grand Valley, then its gone, said Mr. George of the Interbasin Compact Committee. Many experts see its decision to sit out the agreement as fuelling the chances that the water fight will end up in the nation's highest courts. The Kremlin is trying to kill Alexei Navalny. Those who grow alfalfa in Southern Californias Imperial and Coachella valleys would keep their water before people in parts of Los Angeles. U.S. cities that receive river water include Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego. "I think people would like to believe that we can somehow figure out a way to keep these economic activities, keep our kind of economies and livelihoods, going," Megdal said. It lies below sea level, allowing water from the Colorado River to flow there by gravity alone. And all the positives that water has provided for 100 years in the state of Colorado are gone., Of course, not everyone has been displeased by the arrival of hedge funds reportedly paying millions in cash for old farms. Exclusive news, data and analytics for financial market professionals, Reporting by Liliana Salgado and Temis Tormo; Writing by Clarence Fernandez; ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) Colorado River tributaries in New Mexico bring water to the alfalfa fields in the Four Corners and the forested hills of the Gila wilderness in the southwestern part of the state. One, moving very rapidly, is climate change. David Morris, the water utility spokesman for the city and county, said the Colorado River water has allowed the region to wean itself off of unsustainable groundwater pumping. A basinwide conservation plan had not materialized by the mid-August deadline. That a lush hay farm had once been here seemed hard to believe. Home to about 300 people, depending on what time of year youre counting, the town sits on the California border, in a stretch of the Sonoran Desert encircled by fanglike mountains and seemingly dead rocky terrain. Felt said, The water came off the land and it dried up, a common process known as buy and dry. Pueblo West, which was supposed to revegetate with native shortgrass, instead subdivided it into 40-acre parcels. The April selection for the Radio Bookclub is Go As A River by Colorado author Shelley Read. He said an investor like WAM could help combat drought by creating its own storage account in Lake Powell. The proposal would result in about 2 million acre-feet of cuts the low end of what the federal government has asked for and would be largest for the biggest consumers of water: California and Arizona. Dan Charles for NPR Its the rural counties going up against big money., Grady Gammage Jr., a spokesman for Greenstone, said, In my view there is enough water both to sustain a significant agricultural economy on the river and to support urban growth in central Arizona.. Hay, corn, wheat, sorghum, and millet are the top five. The Biden administration is pushing to cut 2 to 4 million acre-feet in water usage, and is in negotiations with the seven states affected. The Evergreen State takes the top spot again in the U.S. News Best States ranking on the strength of its tech sector and other industries. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. The proponents of water markets say they are not in it just for the money. What is the Colorado River? Lurking in those details, though, is a bigger and more worrisome question. Cities use roughly 20% of the Colorado River's water, while agriculture uses approximately 80%. In an online presentation last spring outlining WAMs long-term strategy, Marc Robert, the chief operating officer, professed his belief that U.S. consumers would be compelled to use more wisely in coming years. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post) For the second time in six months, states that depend on the Colorado River to sustain their farms and cities have failed to reach . Agricultural interests got the biggest share. That could change as more tribes reach water rights settlements and build out infrastructure to use those rights. Duke Energy Florida, a part of Duke Energy. As of Wednesday morning, the surge of water released from the Glen Canyon Dam has reached Lake Mead, KTLA's sister station KLAS reports. The U.S. A prolonged 21-year warming and drying trend is pushing the . Light shines off the water flowing in a section of the Central Arizona Project on Oct . If power production ceases at Glen Canyon Dam, rural electric cooperatives, cities and tribal utilities would be forced to seek more expensive options. And crisis drives change.. Sprinklers deliver vital Colorado River water to a field of celery in California's Imperial Valley. Steve Benson says a further cut of 20 percent is feasible, but it does involve costs. According to Porter, some legal experts believe that the federal Bureau of Reclamation has the authority simply to order a reduction in water deliveries from reservoirs like Lake Mead to agricultural irrigation districts. Some fear that less water, and less farming, means fewer jobs and economic decline. All rights reserved. In the Colorado River Basin as a whole, which services about 40 million people in seven states and is overtaxed to the point that it rarely ever reaches the ocean anymore, that number is 55%. Use less waterevery drop counts! His great-grandfather came to the valley from Sweden in the 1920s. "We have the laws in place, you know, when water comes anywhere west of the Mississippi, it's first-come, first-served, and that's how it's always been," he says. As a result, water has turned into a financialized product like what happened to energy in the late 1990s, he said. hide caption. If nothing changes, within a few years, Lake Mead would drop to a level called "dead pool" and water would stop flowing through Hoover Dam. Matthew Diserio, the president and co-founder of the hedge fund Water Asset Management, has called the U.S. water business the biggest emerging market on earth and a trillion-dollar market opportunity.. (AP Photo/John Locher, File), determine how to use at least 15% less water, restricting the planting of decorative lawns, Trump PAC Complaint Against DeSantis Rejected in Florida, North Carolina AG Urges Public Safety, Law Enforcement Bills, 7 Bodies Found During Search for Missing Oklahoma Teens. Today it is 28% full. "They have the most water, and in some senses the most power," she says. REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs. A field of alfalfa, freshly cut, dries in the sun. Updated: Apr 26, 2023 / 01:55 PM PDT. Wall Street investors recognize the term valuable, he said, and now theyre here., Wall Street Eyes Billions in the Colorados Water, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/03/business/colorado-river-water-rights.html. A Farmer, A Chef, An Advocate And A Pie Guy Discuss Local Food Systems. Sprinklers deliver vital Colorado River water to a field of celery in California's Imperial Valley. The Colorado River basin has experienced three D4 droughts in the past 20 years, including the current one. In 2021, water managers considered releasing even more water from Navajo Reservoir to help water levels in downstream reservoirs. The same issues could resurface next year if officials look to the New Mexico reservoir as an emergency supply for downstream users. The deadline for public submissions is Dec. 20 for a process expected to yield a final report by summer. Cibola, Ariz., is one of the wrong places. Farmers, however, would almost certainly challenge such an order in court. Otherwise, the state has to invest in the whole thing and pay the opportunity cost of just having that water sitting there.. Such an account would effectively leave Colorado buying back its own water or other states potentially buying it on an open market and possibly undermine the states authority to control the river, an erosion of the century-long sway of the compact. This modeling proposal is a key step in the ongoing dialogue among the Seven Basin States as we continue to seek a collaborative solution to stabilize the Colorado River system, Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, said in a statement. Native American tribes werent included and were referenced in one sentence: Nothing in this compact shall be construed as affecting the obligations of the United States of America to Indian tribes.. It may feel like California is flush with water at the moment, after a winter of historic storms that replenished drought-starved lakes and left the . It is just in the wrong places. PHOENIX (CN) On the heels of one of the wettest Arizona winters in history, federal, state, local and tribal leaders united Thursday to announce a total of $233 million in funding for water conservation agreements to aid the Gila River Indian Community and other Colorado River users. Want to know how your actions can help make a difference for our planet? The event theme, A New Century for the Colorado River Compact, marks 100 years since a 1922 interstate agreement divvied water shares among interests in the seven states now home to 40 million people and millions of farmed acres. It will be baled into hay and fed to cattle such as those in the feedlot at the far end of the field. "What happened today was a step forward," said Kevin Moran, a water policy specialist at the Environmental Defense Fund. Although it originates just miles from the headwaters of the Colorado River, the Arkansas River flows east instead of west, meandering nearly 1,500 miles across the Great Plains before joining the Mississippi River. "The droughts that we are seeing are becoming that much more severe because of the temperature component, they're warmer," Bolinger said. Most would like to see the price of water, long set in quiet by utilities and governments, rise precipitously. It wasnt until 1944 that a separate agreement promised a share of water to Mexico. The market in the Colorado-Big Thompson Project is also nimble and responsive. Flows during the past 23-year period are the lowest in the past 120 years and (among) the lowest in more than 1,200 years, Bunk told the webinar audience. By the end of May, Lake Mead will reach 1,051 feet. Its a more acceptable solution, generally.. Were not going to wreck our local economy so that they can continue to grow their urban economy.. Since 2008, aquifer levels underneath the city have rebounded as much as 40 feet. As WAMs Mr. Diserio likes to say, When you need water, water is the only thing that will do.. It sold those to owners unaware of their obligation to revegetate the land, now without access to water. Without the river and its load of nutrients, marine productivity in the Gulf of California where the Colorado River once ended has fallen by up to 95 percent. Driving across the expanse, where the temperature often hovers near 115 degrees, I found myself comforted by the sight of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler carrying bales of hay, which at least implied the existence of something living where I was headed. The ongoing drought is a stark reminder that water conservation is not just smart planning but an absolute necessity to save the life of the Colorado River, Amelia Flores, chairwoman of Colorado River Indian Tribes, said ahead of the event. Californias agricultural water markets a mosaic of online exchanges connecting farmers and water brokers are considered a potential model for the West: fast, flexible and responsive to extreme weather. However, over time, as the West has grown in population, constraints on water supplies have emerged, leaving a system that was originally designed around the needs of farms to support the growth of vast cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix. On a map, this is the very top of the Gulf of California. Access to it can make or break both cities and rural communities. Just kind of a nightmare, Mr. The whole history of the American West is about moving water, Mr. Gammage of Greenstone said. What has happened in Australia should be a cautionary tale for America, Mr. Kells said. Dan Charles for NPR The six states made their case in a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation on Monday. In the last few years, Colorado has been debating a water policy approach that has further piqued the interest of private investors: paying farmers not to use the river at all. That is about 1 million acre-feet less than the three states are entitled to use under a legal compact that divides the Colorado River's waters. Strategies include fallowing fields and making irrigation more efficient. Agencies are making progress on large projects to deliver water to Navajo communities in western New Mexico. But if you know one tribe, you only know one tribe. The ultimate goal of this high-flow experiment is to move sand and sediment along the Colorado River. In the last 20 years, tensions over increasingly scarce Colorado River water supplies have been rising in step with climate change and global temperatures. In April, water administrators in Southern California imposed a one-day-a-week outdoor watering limit on more than 6 million people. Colorado River expert John Fleck, a professor at the University of New Mexico, wrote that Californias plan gets to roughly the same place as the six-state plan at the most extreme reservoir levels, but the difference is timing waiting until water levels drop further at Lake Meads Hoover Dam. Water curtailment has long loomed over the Southwest. State Engineer Mike Hamman, New Mexicos top water manager, said the state really feels the shortages because it doesnt have the big reservoirs of other states in the Colorado River Basin. Plus, A Surprising Number Of Food And Beverage Classes In Boulder County. Running southwest from the Rocky Mountains to Mexicos Gulf of California, the river runs through seven states in the American West. Halal Index Funds List,
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