Tag Archive for: Bureau of Reclamation

Cutbacks in Water for Central AZ Farmers Expected

/in , , /by /Arizona Capitol Timesby Greta Forslund

Arizona may be facing its first official declaration of water shortage next year, a move that would trigger water cutbacks of 512,000 acre-feet — almost 20% of Arizona’s Colorado River entitlement — affecting mainly agricultural users. 

The 24-Month Study on the Colorado River system, released this month by the Bureau of Reclamation, projects that in June water levels in Lake Mead will fall below 1,075 feet for the first time, which would put the state in a Tier 1 shortage.

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Opinion: Drought Hits California — and Newsom

/in , /by /CALmattersby Dan Walters

By any standard, California is experiencing one of its periodic droughts after two successive years of below-normal precipitation.

“We are now facing the reality that it will be a second dry year for California and that is having a significant impact on our water supply,” state water resources director Karla Nemeth said in late March as the state reduced projected deliveries of water to 5% of requested demand.

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Rural Valley Cities Secure Permanent Water Supply in Deal with Feds

/in , /by /The Sunby Daniel Gligich

Three rural Valley cities finalized deals with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to cement permanent access to water from the Central Valley Project on Monday, the Federal bureau announced. The cities of Avenal, Coalinga, and Huron converted their water contracts with Federal water authorities along with Firebaugh-based Pacheco Water District and Panoche Water District, and Los Banos-based San Luis Water District. The move signals an end to negotiations that took over a year and a half to complete.

 

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Record Low Lake Powell and Bad 2021 Drought Forecast Sets Stage For Water Cuts

/in , , /by /The Colorado Sunby Jason Blevins

The dry 2020 and the lack of snow this season has water managers in seven states preparing for the first time for cutbacks outlined in drought contingency plans drafted two years ago. A sobering forecast released this week by the Bureau of Reclamation shows the federally owned Lake Mead and Lake Powell — the nation’s two largest reservoirs and critical storage for Colorado River water and its 40 million users — dipping near-record-low levels.

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Upper Colorado River Drought Plan Triggered for First Time

/in , , /by /KUNC (Greeley, Colorado)by Luke Runyon

Increasingly bleak forecasts for the Colorado River have for the first time put into action elements of the 2019 upper basin drought contingency plan.

The 24-month study released in January by the Bureau of Reclamation, which projects two years of operations at the river’s biggest reservoirs, showed Lake Powell possibly dipping below an elevation of 3,525 feet above sea level in 2022. That elevation was designated as a critical threshold in the agreement to preserve the ability to produce hydropower at Glen Canyon Dam.

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Colorado River Expert Biden’s Pick for Interior Water Post

/in , , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Tripp Baltz and Bobby Magill

Tanya Trujillo, an expert on water law and the Colorado River Basin, is President Joe Biden’s choice to serve in the Interior Department’s top water and science position.

If confirmed by the Senate, Trujillo, currently the Lower Basin project director for the Colorado River Sustainability Campaign, will serve as principal deputy assistant secretary for water and science, overseeing the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey.

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BuRec Looks to Possible End of Paradox Desalination Project

/in , /by /The Daily Sentinelby Dennis Webb

A highly effective but problematic Colorado River desalination project in western Montrose County’s Paradox Valley could come to an end due to the federal Bureau of Reclamation’s difficulty finding an acceptable means of continuing it. The agency on Friday released a final environmental impact statement that included analysis of three new approaches for removing salty groundwater from the valley to keep it from eventually reaching the Dolores River and ultimately the Colorado River.

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Tensions from Water-Sharing Deal with U.S. Boil Over In Mexico

/in , /by /Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazetteby Natalie Kitroeff

The farmers armed themselves with sticks, rocks and homemade shields, ambushed hundreds of soldiers guarding a dam and seized control of one of the border region’s most important bodies of water.

The Mexican government was sending water — their water — to Texas, leaving them next to nothing for their thirsty crops, the farmers said. So they took over the dam and have refused to allow any of the water to flow to the United States for more than a month.

“This is a war,” said Victor Velderrain, a grower who helped lead the takeover, “to survive, to continue working, to feed my family.”

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Trump Admin Fights Farmers’ Multimillion-Dollar Water Claim

/in , , /by /E&E Newsby Jeremy P. Jacobs

The Trump administration is urging a federal court to reject a multimillion-dollar claim over water rights from California farmers, in the latest round of a politically sensitive and long-running lawsuit.

At issue is a decades-long case from major farmers claiming that the Bureau of Reclamation has failed to build a drainage system in the San Joaquin Valley’s Westlands Water District.

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Arizona, Other States Challenge Proposed Utah Pipeline that Would Divert River Water

/in , , /by /Arizona Daily Starby Tony Davis

Arizona and five other Colorado River Basin states are challenging a proposed pipeline that would divert to a booming Utah community almost as much river water as Tucson uses every year. Six of the seven river basin states — all but Utah — wrote to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Tuesday, seeking a delay in publishing a final environmental review, and in making a final decision, on the Lake Powell pipeline.

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