Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”
Important Takeaways:
- Officials fear ‘complete doomsday scenario’ for drought-stricken Colorado River
- The first sign of serious trouble for the drought-stricken American Southwest could be a whirlpool.
- The normally placid Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir, could suddenly transform into something resembling a funnel, with water circling the openings, the dam’s operators say.
- If that happens, the massive turbines that generate electricity for 4.5 million people would have to shut down or risk destruction from air bubbles.
- Such an outcome — known as a “minimum power pool” — was once unfathomable here. Now, the federal government projects that day could come as soon as July.
- As the water has receded, so has the ability to produce power at Glen Canyon, as less pressure from the lake pushes the turbines. The dam already generates about 40 percent less power than what has been committed to customers.
- These customers would be responsible for buying power on the open market in the event Glen Canyon could not generate
- The standard rate paid for Glen Canyon’s low-cost power is $30 per megawatt hour. On the open market, these customers last summer faced prices as high as $1,000 per megawatt hour
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Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”
Important Takeaways:
- Flaming Gorge falls as drought felt higher up Colorado River
- This year, he has already dredged 10 feet (3 meters) so boats could still use the marina. Now, with Flaming Gorge becoming a crucial emergency water supply for the region, Valdez worries the reservoir has nowhere to go but lower still.
- “I mean, this is our natural resource and it’s going away,” he said. “Water is the most precious thing we have.”
- Built in the 1960s to store and control water in the Green River, which flows into the Colorado in southeastern Utah, Flaming Gorge is the Colorado River system’s third-biggest reservoir. It’s now about 75% full, compared to just 25% or so in Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the bigger reservoirs downstream.
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Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”
Important Takeaways:
- Tensions grow over lack of a water deal for the shrinking Colorado River
- The states and managers of affected water agencies were told to come up with plans to reduce water use drastically, by 2 million to 4 million acre-feet, by mid-August. After weeks of negotiations, which some participants say have at times grown tense and acrimonious, the parties have yet to reach an agreement.
- The absence of a deal now raises the risk that the Colorado River crisis — brought on by chronic overuse and the West’s drying climate — could spiral into a legal morass.
- There have also been growing tensions between the states of the river’s Lower Basin — California, Arizona and Nevada — and those of the Upper Basin — Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and Utah.
- The federal Bureau of Reclamation is scheduled to hold a news conference Tuesday to present the government’s latest projections of reservoir levels, which will dictate water cuts for the Lower Basin states under a previous 2019 deal. Lake Mead and Lake Powell have fallen to record-low levels, now nearly three-fourths empty, and are projected to continue dropping.
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Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”
Important Takeaways:
- As water crisis worsens on Colorado River, an urgent call for Western states to ‘act now’
- With the Colorado River’s depleted reservoirs continuing to drop to new lows, the federal government has taken the unprecedented step of telling the seven Western states that rely on the river to find ways of drastically cutting the amount of water they take in the next two months.
- Details about the federal government’s approach to the crisis two days after Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton announced that major cuts of between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet will be needed next year to keep reservoirs from dropping to “critical levels.”
- For comparison, California, Arizona and Nevada used a total of about 7 million acre-feet of Colorado River water last year.
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Revelation 16:9 “They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”
Important Takeaways:
- Major water cutbacks loom as shrinking Colorado River nears ‘moment of reckoning’
- …the Colorado River’s reservoirs have declined so low that major water cuts will be necessary next year to reduce risks of supplies reaching perilously low levels, a top federal water official said Tuesday
- The needed cuts, she said, amount to between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet next year.
- For comparison, California is entitled to 4.4 million acre-feet of Colorado River water per year, while Arizona’s allotment is 2.8 million.
- Lake Mead near Las Vegas has dropped to 28% of its full capacity, while Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border is now just 27% full.
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2 Timothy 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
Important Takeaways:
- Newsom urged Californians to cut water use by 15%. In February they saved less than 1%
- Figures released this week by the State Water Resources Control Board showed that even during a third year of drought, Californians have been slow to step up conservation efforts.
- Newsom last week issued an order for urban water suppliers to implement more aggressive conservation measures, requiring them to activate “Level 2” of their local drought contingency plans to prepare for shortages. The governor also directed the state water board to consider a ban on watering “nonfunctional” grass at businesses and other properties.
- The Colorado River, which supplies water to seven states and Mexico, has shrunk dramatically during two decades of dryness intensified by unprecedented warmth, and its reservoirs are continuing to decline.
- California’s water managers have cut deliveries through the State Water Project to 5% of full allocations, and have called for residents to conserve.
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By Alex Dobuzinskis
(Reuters) – Divers searching the Colorado River in Arizona on Monday found the body of a woman who died after two boats slammed head-on into each other, with three other people still missing from the collision, officials said.
In the crash on Saturday night, a boat with 10 people and a craft carrying six people struck each other and everyone aboard was thrown into the water near Arizona’s border with California. The two boats sank.
Several people were rescued by nearby boaters, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office said.
Nine people were injured, including two people who suffered critical injuries in the incident less than 15 miles (24 km) south of the California town of Needles, the sheriff’s office said.
Divers resumed searching on Monday at sunrise for the four missing. They soon found the body of one of four missing boaters, 51-year-old Christi Lewis of California, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Anita Mortensen said by phone.
The divers were continuing to look for one man and two women, she said.
(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
