The existing plans and commitments to reduce water use don’t add up to even half of the savings that are needed to keep the river flowing.
Articles on Lake Powell
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The current Colorado River negotiations process includes all five of the most common sources of conflict in any process seeking compromise.
Long-standing water-use agreements allocate more water than the river and its basin actually contain, forcing users to cut back and face future shortages as well.
Southwest states have bought time with an agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada to cut Colorado River water use by about 14%. Now comes the hard part.
Reservoirs and streams are in good shape in California and the Great Basin, but groundwater and ecosystems are another story. And then there’s the Colorado River Basin.
Lake Powell’s existential crisis is a unique opportunity to save a treasured landscape.
Top contributors
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Director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy, ASU Morrison Institute for Public Policy, Arizona State University
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Regents Professor Emeritus and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law & Public Policy Emeritus, University of Arizona
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Associate Research Professor in Climatology, Desert Research Institute
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Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Utah
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Director, Colorado Water Center, Colorado State University
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Professor of Environmental Science and Director, Water Resources Research Center, University of Arizona