lake powell
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Federal officials to review 5 alternatives for Colorado River operations post-2026
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The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Wednesday announced five proposals it would review to determine the post-2026 operating guidelines that would govern the Colorado River in the decades to come. Its analysis will be published next month, keeping the process on track to be completed by 2027. December was supposed to be the month that the…
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Colorado River Basin sees ‘spectacular’ snowpack, buying time for big decisions
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The Colorado River is one of the West’s most vital resources. But 20 years of drought have stressed the entire river basin, forcing federal officials to call for massive cuts in water use. This winter, in the water-towers of the west, storms have dropped more than double the average snowpack in some Colorado mountains. But…
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Colorado River flows will plummet this water year to 24% of normal: Bureau
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LAS VEGAS ? As the Colorado River crisis deepens, a new federal analysis of flows into Lake Powell shows that they will continue to plummet through 2025, before beginning to partially recover. James Prairie, a hydrologic engineer for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, said flows are likely to be just 24% of average this year, making it…
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Feds to pay farmers to use less water, reducing Colorado River strain
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The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Wednesday announced it will pay farmers in Arizona, Nevada and California to reduce their water use. The newly-created Lower Colorado River Basin System Conservation and Efficiency Program will pay farmers in the the lower basin states of the Colorado River system to conserve water at prices ranging from $330 per acre-foot of water…
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California takes major step to cut back on use of Colorado River water
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California water providers, in a letter Wednesday to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, announced they would conserve up to 400,000 acre-feet annually of Colorado River water in Lake Mead, beginning in 2023 and continuing until 2026. “This water, which would otherwise be used by California’s communities and farms, will meaningfully contribute to stabilizing the Colorado River…
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Federal ideas reflect little progress toward solving Colorado River crisis
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The clock is ticking for the Colorado River, but solutions on how to save the river basin, which provides water to 40 million people in seven states and Mexico, still appears to be elusive, at least from the federal government. However, proposed solutions are starting to bubble up through Colorado agriculture’s community, including projects that…
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Reclamation: Upper Basin reservoirs insufficient to save Lake Powell
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Flaming Gorge Reservoir, which Bureau of Reclamation officials have used twice during the past two years to add water to the rapidly deteriorating Colorado River system, likely has only enough water left for two more emergency releases, according reclamation officials. Last summer, the Bureau of Reclamation ordered the release of 125,000 acre-feet of water from…
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Ignored for decades, Colorado River tribes fight for their water rights
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MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah • Navajo Nation residents in pickup trucks rumbled along dusty dirt roads in the ethereal painted desert of Monument Valley in August to a well where they fill up water tanks, sometimes multiple times a day. The well spigot in the dirt parking lot next to a shuttered post office in Goulding, Utah, is…
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Drought threatens Colorado River hydropower, major source of renewable energy
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PAGE, ARIZ. • Soulful notes from a Native American flute float over the vast valley on the backside of the Glen Canyon Dam, which interrupts the once mighty Colorado River. At the tourist overlook, a teen — his phone in hand, playing the music — hops from one phyllo-layered sandstone outcropping to another, where river, rock…
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With the feds ‘light’ on steps, Colorado’s water experts explore challenges, opportunities
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Several of Colorado’s water experts on Thursday noted that the federal government’s plan for tackling dwindling Colorado River reservoirs is “light” on the next steps but that the river’s condition also offers opportunities to boost resiliency among Western states. “It’s a dismaying time, but one full of opportunity,” said attorney James Eklund of Sherman &…
