|
The headlines are starting to add up: the Colorado River Basin is in a crisis, and that crisis is a national one. The Colorado River supports 40 million people in seven southwestern states, 29 tribal nations, and Mexico, in addition to irrigating about 5.5 million acres of agricultural land. However, the region is in the middle of an extended drought as flows in the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers weaken as a result of climate change and rapid snowmelt.
The question is, what impact is the drought having on Westerners, and what do we do about it?
Across the West, cities and states are working to try and cut water delivery costs, although solutions may disrupt natural ecosystems and exacerbate climate change. At the same time, tribes are working to get a fair share of water. Although a report in 2018 found that tribes technically hold rights to 20 percent of all water in the Colorado River watershed, tribes receive far less than that, and in many states settlements have been drafted to prevent tribes from selling water rights.
In Arizona, as water declines farmers are turning to groundwater to support their land, large corporations are drawing disproportionate amounts of water due to lack of regulation. Meanwhile, Wall Street investors are getting ready to enter the fray, planning to capitalize on water scarcity as an economic tool for self-benefit. Millions of other people have their own stories related to the Colorado River Basin.
A data-driven look at the Colorado River Basin reveals that agriculture consumes the vast majority of the water supply: roughly 70 percent as of 2013. Much of that goes to irrigate alfalfa, a water-guzzling crop that goes to feed cattle and horses, often abroad. In simple terms, alfalfa fields make up one of the biggest water sinks in the West, straining the imperiled water system to produce cheeseburgers worldwide. Researchers have highlighted ways to reduce water usage, such as switching fields into sorghum production or using targeted irrigation.
It's time to bring the Colorado River into the national climate conversation and pursue creative approaches to irrigation, agriculture, and water use in the Southwest so communities don't pay the price.
|
Change has always challenged the status quo. So we need to do our best to try to steward that and try to direct the change in a way that helps people to make the shift."
