Colorado River Compact

Arizona will lose 18 percent of its Colorado River water allotment next year because of a shortage declared this week. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports, some Arizonans are looking ahead with concern to deeper cuts projected for the future as the river’s reservoirs continue to shrink.

Diminishing aquifers, drying rivers, and lingering droughts are the headlines in the West this year. Experts in science and policy say it’s urgent Arizonans plan for a future with much less water. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with John Fleck of the University of New Mexico’s Water Resources Program about how warnings about the Colorado River’s limits have been ringing out for more than a century.   

So let’s do some history first. When did hydrologists first start warning people that the Colorado River didn’t have as much water as they wanted it to have?

A recent report from Colorado River experts says it’s time for radical new management strategies to safeguard the Southwest’s water supplies. It’s meant to inform discussions on how to renegotiate certain parts of the Law of the River that will expire in 2026. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke about the report with Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University.

Six western states have voiced opposition to the planned Lake Powell Pipeline, which would divert water from the Colorado River to fast-growing cities in southern Utah. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

Representatives of the seven Colorado River Basin states meet today at a conference in Las Vegas to discuss the details of a long-awaited plan for dealing with drought. Cities, farms, and tribal nations are negotiating voluntary cutbacks in water use to reduce the risk of Lake Mead falling to catastrophically low levels. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny spoke with one of the conference moderators, John Fleck, a water expert from the University of New Mexico, about why this “Drought Contingency Plan” is needed.

Officials in the U.S. and Mexico have signed a binational agreement aimed at staving off water shortage on the Colorado River and restoring the delta ecosystem. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

An environmental group in Utah wants to drain Lake Powell and move its water downstream to Lake Mead. Supporters say the plan will save water and restore a natural ecosystem in Glen Canyon. KNAU’s Melissa Sevigny reports.

The Navajo Generating Station near Page is slated to close in 2019. That raises questions about what might happen to the water the plant currently draws from the Colorado River. Arizona Public Radio’s Melissa Sevigny reports. 

Years of drought and increased demand for water in the Southwest have caused dropping levels in Lake Mead. As Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports, the reservoir reached its lowest point ever this month.