STUART LEAVENWORTH | THE SACRAMENTO BEE

Looming drought forces tough choices in the West

SETH HETTENA; The Associated Press

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. - The Colorado River runs cold and fast through the Grand Canyon, a postcard picture of the water wealth that greens farms and slakes the thirst of booming cities.
But there's a lot less to the Colorado than meets the eye.
Five years ago, the vast reservoirs at both ends of the Grand Canyon were essentially full, brimming with water for showers, kitchen sinks, irrigation and ornamental fountains. Today, they are both half-empty as drought in the region enters its fifth consecutive year, making this the driest five-year period on record.


The river supplies water to 25 million people in seven states and more in Mexico.
But with no end to the drought in sight, the Interior Department might be nearing the first declaration of a water shortage on the Colorado River, said Bennett Raley, the department's assistant secretary for water and science.
Such a declaration would mean a cut in the amount of water that can be drawn from the river, Raley told reporters during a 224-mile rafting trip through the canyon last month.
"If current trends continue ... the secretary would be forced to take action certainly within three years and potentially within two," unless the states offer a solution, Raley said.
The severity of the cut would be up to the Interior secretary, but even a small reduction would ripple across the West. The 1,400-mile-long river grows U.S. and Mexican crops, generates electricity, supports a huge recreation industry and delivers water to some of the nation's driest and hottest cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas.


Drought is already doing what environmentalists could only dream about: It's draining Lake Powell, the reservoir upriver from the Grand Canyon that submerged hundreds of miles of scenic canyons and countless archaeological sites.


Powell is so low that hikers are beginning to explore sandstone canyons once submerged under 100 feet of water. The lake has fallen to 42 percent of capacity, its lowest since it was filled in 1970
At the downstream end of the Grand Canyon is Lake Mead, the huge lake formed by Hoover Dam. It is at 59 percent of capacity and could reach the same state as Powell as early as 2008.
Las Vegas is almost entirely dependent on Lake Mead for water, and is worried about the effect a continued drought could have on its explosive growth. The city is stressing conservation to avoid a self-imposed drought emergency, and water managers are ripping out water-guzzling lawns.
In a shortage declaration, Arizona would be the first to suffer. Under a 36-year-old compromise the state now regrets, Arizona would lose all the Colorado River water that now goes to Phoenix, the nation's sixth-biggest city, before California would lose a single drop.


Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming are worried as well. Under a 1922 accord they would be required to cut their own water to guarantee a supply to California, Arizona and Nevada.
While the states depend on a steady source of water, nature is anything but steady. A study of tree rings at the headwaters of the Colorado River found evidence of a drought as recently as the 16th century that lasted 20 years.
In fact, tree rings have led scientists to believe that much of the past century was unusually wet and that more dry years could lie ahead, said Robert Webb, a hydrologist who studies the Grand Canyon for the U.S. Geological Survey and is co-author of "Floods, Drought and Climate Change."
"We have no idea how long this drought is going to last," Webb said. "Every indication says this one's gone beyond all our past experience."
Raley is pushing the states to do something unusual: share the water. The best chance of avoiding a shortage might lie in California, Nevada and Arizona working together to help each other.
One possibility is an interstate water bank in Lake Mead that the three states could share.
However, when it comes to water, the states are more used to bickering than cooperating. Arizona and California waged legendary battles over the Colorado, including Arizona's comical effort to stop construction of a dam intended to divert water to Los Angeles by sending five soldiers to the river in 1934.
During the rafting trip, Raley asked three water managers from Arizona, California and Nevada what they would do, hypothetically, to prevent the Interior secretary from declaring a shortage next year.
As they discussed the problem, the age-old feud between California and Arizona flared again.
"I'm not going to be looking to California to help me out. I'm not figuring Arizona's going to do much to help California until the reservoirs turn around," said Sid Wilson, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, the 336-mile concrete channel that carries Colorado River water to Phoenix and Tucson.
Wilson did say, however, that Arizona is trying to help Nevada.
Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, says she will have to turn to Arizona or California for help if the river continues to shrink.
But Mulroy isn't optimistic.
"All the legal mechanisms are set up for disaster," she said. "We can't seem to get the idea that if we share we get so much further."


Mmmm. anyone else see a possible connection between Hogan's ruling and the SW region's current water shortage?

Yea, I guess Vegas would not be as fun if it could not be seen from outer space. On the same note, pictures from space show that the sea of Cortez is dieing because no water from the Colorado flows into it anymore. Like anything else, if anything was attempted to do something about it, it would appear to be a plot to take away your guns etc etc etc... We have really trashed our country in the last 50 years. Its not about the drought, the Colorado has survived those since creation... chances are, it won't survive us however.

The Colorado is the great example of a river that would benefit if water users had to pay the actual value of the water they use. If people in Vegas want to have a pool, let them do it as long as they buy water on the market at a price that reflects the actual costs, including environmental. A lot less people would want pools and use would go down. Let farmers up river who are growing crops at a loss, but have long standing water rights, sell their water to users below and stop growing some crops that they lose money on anyway. If these transactions were taxed, the money collected could go to restoring the environment, fish etc. I know it will likely never happen. Just wishful thinking.

Gee, a water shortage in the desert. Whoda thunk it? Maybe the desert southwest isn't the best place for large cities.

If and when it comes down to making hard choices, they could opt to jack up the water bills for folks who insist that their lawns remain the "perfect" green all year round. The idea of having a lawn in the middle of summer is just madness i say! The desert was never meant to be an easy place to live.

Don't know if anyone has noticed but we are having are own little drought locally.

Many of the low elevation creeks are at near historic lows flows for this time of year - looks like mid-summer flows.

The snow pack in much of the Cascade mountains is less than 50% of normal for this time of year. The water content of many snotel sites for the first of May was at the first of June levels. Barring exceptionally wet and cool weather snow run-off is going to be much earlier and lower than normal.

While we anglers will get a chance to practice our low water methods for the summer it is not going to be good time for young salmon, cutthroat and steelhead. And yes even our lawns.

Tight lines
S malma