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After years of compounding drought, the agreement that governs use of the Colorado River between states is facing new tests. The Colorado River provides water for 40 million people and irrigates more than 5 million acres of farmland. States in the Colorado River Basin created the Drought Contingency Plan three years ago, designed to prevent the system's reservoirs from hitting the worst shortage tier. So far, the plan has accomplished this goal. However, this year's cutbacks are projected to be the largest yet, which will test the system.
About 58% of the West is classified as being in a severe, extreme, or exceptional drought. This year, the amount of water that flows into Lake Powell, one of the river's main reservoirs, is projected to be just 45% of the long-term average. Anne Castle, a senior fellow at the University of Colorado Law School’s Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment said, “It's important for people to understand that we're dealing with not only a limited system but a shrinking system, and that that has real implications for water use throughout the Colorado River Basin.”
Haaland heads West
Secretary Haaland kicked off her first trip as the head of the Interior Department yesterday, meeting with a delegation of nine pueblo governors of the All Pueblo Council of Governors in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This week, Haaland will also visit Utah to tour Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Restoring these monuments, whose boundaries were shrunk by the Trump administration, is widely popular across the West, with 77% of Western voters and 74% of Utah voters specifically in support of restoring protections for these lands.
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By learning about the land’s layered history, we can come to a deeper understanding of the sacrifices made for public lands to exist and the significance they play for so many diverse people and other biodiversity.”
