On the outskirts of Phoenix, a small town with a huge reliance on the Colorado River has capped growth, revived old wells and struck water deals.<\/p>\n
\n
But Cave Creek Mayor Robert Morris can\u2019t shake the real possibility that it\u2019s not enough to keep the desert community of about 5,000 people afloat well into the future. And a recent\u00a0federal plan\u00a0to address a deepening crisis in the river basin won\u2019t help.<\/p>\n
Cave Creek gets nearly all of its water from the river, which serves 40 million people across the U.S. West and has been dwindling because of climate change, demand and overuse. The town already was forced to make cuts this year and it stands to lose more under a new federal plan.<\/p>\n
Morris likened the situation to planning for a meteor strike.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see it coming, but you can\u2019t get out of the way and you don\u2019t know what the damage is going to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The uncertainty stretches across seven U.S. states, tribal nations and Mexico. Farmers are deciding which crops are worth the investment. Phoenix could lose some municipal and industrial water for the first time and turn to backup supplies. And residents could face even more costly water.<\/p>\n
Nevada raised the stakes this week by suing the Interior Department and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, saying basic needs in the Las Vegas region will go unmet if the area has to absorb\u00a0planned reductions\u00a0of up to 70% of its Colorado River water in the next decade.<\/p>\n
The bureau said Thursday it does not comment on litigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe uncertainty is going to continue to build in the wrong direction,\u201d said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources.<\/p>\n
Western reservoirs see record lows<\/h4>\n
In the U.S. West, water is stored primarily in reservoirs, aquifers and snowpacks. But a\u00a0record snow drought\u00a0means there\u2019s far less water to recharge those sources.<\/p>\n
The two largest reservoirs in the country serve as barometers of health for the Colorado River system:\u00a0Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Both hit record lows this month.<\/p>\n
Eight other reservoirs operated by the\u00a0Bureau of Reclamation\u00a0recently recorded the lowest levels in at least the last 30 years. Among them is Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico that\u2019s critical for supplying water for crops in southern New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. The Green Mountain Reservoir serves the western part of Colorado, and the Guernsey Reservoir in Wyoming funnels water to farmers in the eastern part of the state and western Nebraska.<\/p>\n
Under the Bureau of Reclamation\u2019s plan,\u00a0California, Nevada and Arizona will collectively reduce water use by 1.25 million acre-feet (about 1.54 billion cubic meters) \u2014 enough to fill over 600,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools \u2014 annually in the next two years, with the possibility of larger cuts depending on conditions. Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico are not required to make cuts for now but could voluntarily reduce water.<\/p>\n
While\u00a0El Ni\u00f1o\u00a0could bring intense moisture to the northern Rockies and the Southwest in the coming months, it won\u2019t erase decades of drought.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrought is a slow-moving phenomena and it can take some time to come into it and also come out of it,\u201d said David Mocko, senior research scientist who authored a recent U.S. Drought Monitor map.<\/p>\n
Farmers are reluctant to plant<\/h4>\n
John Boelts grows vegetables, melons, durum wheat and other crops in Yuma, Arizona \u2014 a region that produces about 90% of leafy greens eaten in North America during the winter.<\/p>\n
Farmers there have high-priority rights and may avoid cuts to their Colorado River supply over the next two years but, Boelts said, the reprieve isn\u2019t enough to make longer-term plans. That makes farmers reluctant to plant new acreage.<\/p>\n
Citrus, date and other orchard crops that thrive in the region take years to become commercially productive, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no food that we grow in a hurry,\u201d said Boelts, the Arizona Farm Bureau president. \u201cBeef takes years to produce. The lettuce you eat today? A farmer was working on how they would grow that crop six plus months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ray Martinez grows alfalfa on a reservation that\u2019s home to the\u00a0Colorado River Indian Tribes. The tribe holds some of the river\u2019s oldest rights, and while its Arizona allocation is huge, an old irrigation system and the lack of infrastructure have kept much of the water out of reach.<\/p>\n
Martinez and the water department are concerned about having enough water to finish this growing season. He has left some fields unplanted for years to help prop up Lake Mead. If the reservoir keeps dropping, he said, surface water coming to him and neighboring farms will be further limited.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, Mother Nature has its own way of doing things, and we have no control of that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#mayor #desert #city #likens #U.S #Wests #water #crisis #planning #meteor #strike<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the outskirts of Phoenix, a… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3475,947,1458,6197,6198,3943,6200,922,6201,687,1094,6199],"class_list":["post-3449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-city","tag-climate-change","tag-crisis","tag-desert","tag-likens","tag-mayor","tag-meteor","tag-planning","tag-strike","tag-u-s","tag-water","tag-wests"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n