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This year's drought is likely to be historic, with much of the West already drying out at a record pace.
The onset of this year's water troubles, especially in California, has been far quicker than in previous years as a result of low snowpack and early seasonal heat that has evaporated runoff. In California, only 20 percent of the expected runoff from an already well-below average snowpack arrived in reservoirs. The rest evaporated during the unseasonably warm spring.
The increasingly frequent and severe heat and drought are hallmarks of climate change that is already impacting the West. Phoenix now has more than 100 days of triple-digit temperatures every year, and mountain snowpacks have declined 15 to 30 percent since the middle of the century. In California, Arizona and Utah, the period between June 2020 and May 2021 has been the driest ever recorded.
The extreme drought gripping the region will likely result in widespread water shortages throughout the summer, leading to major impacts on crops and pastures, and hard decisions from farmers and policymakers. However, even as emergency measures and tightening belts are necessary to keep catastrophic consequences at bay, they are not long-term solutions to the climate crisis.
Lake Powell is in many ways the face of the drought: the reservoir is a storage container meant to help upstream Western states meet water delivery obligations to downstream states. However, its water level is the lowest it's been in decades, and projections show it's likely to drop further until it is below a critical threshold of 3,525 feet. At that point, upper-Colorado River basin states such as Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming will be responsible for emergency diversions of more water to Lake Powell. Water diversions are likely to raise tensions in the region, and could potentially lead to seven-state litigation and create an extended process with lots of uncertainty.
In order to prevent the worsening drought from becoming catastrophic, it's time for all of us in the West to consider how we can best confront the climate crisis. Options include shifting our energy economy away from fossil fuels, as well as protecting 30% of the country by 2030 to help ensure carbon sequestration.
An opportunity to reform public lands drilling
Senator Michael Bennet (CO) has introduced legislation to reform public lands drilling. A first bill would provide significant funding to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells—wells whose owners have gone bankrupt or can no longer be identified. Additionally, the legislation would strengthen federal oil and gas bonding rules, ensuring that companies foot the bill for cleaning up wells should they go bankrupt. A second bill would ensure transparency in the public lands leasing process.
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To ensure that this site continues to be protected and accessible to all, we must restore protections for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and ensure the site’s boundaries are reinstated.
