Although portions of this report are used on occasion in Colorado Central Magazine, we do not publish the full report there, as we do on this website. It is prepared by Steve Glazer of Crested Butte and is distributed early each month via an email list. To subscribe to that list, email to <listserv@lists.sierraclub.org> with SUBSCRIBE RMC-CONS-WATER as the message.
Please note that this is an archive, and some links may no longer function.
The United States Geological Survey Earth Surface Dynamics Program has published a draft fact sheet on their analysis of the "Precipitation History of the Colorado Plateau Region, 1900-2000." They conclude that there is evidence we are entering into another drought cycle as of 1998 similar to that which affected the southwest from 1942-1977, a 35-year drought. Temperature changes in ocean areas which correlate with precipitation in the southwest suggest that we will receive less total precipitation as snow, and a larger percentage of precipitation in extreme weather events.
The short-term cycle has a period of 4 to 7 years, in association with the Southern [Pacific] Oscillation Index (SOI), referred to as El Nino (warm surface water) and La Nina (cold surface water) in the southern Pacific between Indonesia and Peru. The long-term cycle, across many decades, is called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation in the Northern Pacific Ocean.
Changes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) trigger sharp transitions from one climate regime to another on the Colorado Plateau. These regimes last 2-3 decades. In this century, we had a wet regime from 1900-1941, a drought from 1942-1977, and a wet regime from 1978 - 1998, all in phase with PDO indices. The PDO and SOI interact. Cool phases of the PDO are associated with the droughts, while warm phases are associated with wet periods. The PDO began a marked downward shift in 1999, the beginning of our current severe drought. The report concludes: "Recent trends in southwest precipitation and the PDO suggest that climate of the region may become drier for the next 2-3 decades in a pattern that could resemble the drought of 1942-1977. <http://wa.water.usgs.gov/news/news.wri024176.html>
Below-average snowfall so far this winter offers no reprieve to take the edge off Colorado's drought, and across the West, all those newcomers must accept that conservation measures are here to stay. USA Today; Dec. 19 <http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20021219/4713977s.htm> <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6132>
A Colorado company wants permission to pump ground water from western Nebraska and haul it to drought-stricken Front Range cities on million-gallon trains. Denver Post; Dec. 19 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5997>
One of Colorado's most powerful lawmakers promised to intervene to keep thousands of irrigation wells operating near Greeley in an escalating water war between farmers and cities. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Dec. 31 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6131>
In an effort to improve winter flows in the Fraser River in Grand County, the Denver Water Board has leased 1,400 af from the Climax Molybdenum Company, a subsidiary of Phelps Dodge Corp, that the company has in storage. This water is to be released to Dillon Reservoir to replace inflows that Denver Water would have otherwise collected from the Fraser River Basin. The Colorado River Water Conservation District helped to facilitate this arrangement.
In another effort to relieve some of the drought impacts in the Gunnison River, the River District negotiated an arrangement with the Redlands Water and Power Co. to forego generating power this winter to allow all of the reservoirs in the basin to fill. By paying Redlands $75,000 to replace their lost power, Redlands has agreed to keep their "call" off the river through March, 2003.
Legislators in Colorado's Western Slope expect to spend considerable time next year wading through water bills, especially those with a Front Range agenda, in hopes of dealing with the drought. Boulder Daily Camera (AP); Dec. 17 <http://www2.dailycamera.com/bdc/state_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2419_1614971,00.html>
A study of Colorado's $5 billion "Big Straw" project to siphon Colorado River water back over the divide before it crosses into Utah would also examine other options for capturing unused water, according to panelists. Grand Junction Sentinel; Dec. 11 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5860>
New Mexico officials hope to buy 18,000 acres of farmland with water rights along the Pecos River, and let the water flow into Texas to satisfy the delivery obligation. Santa Fe New Mexican; Dec. 20 <http://www.sfnewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=6454837&BRD=2144&PAG=461&dept_id=367954&rfi=6>
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has released over 41,000 captive-raised silvery minnows into the Rio Grande north of Albuquerque to "test whether the fish can survive in that part of the rivers" says the El Paso Times, AP 12/11. Most of the highly endangered minnows left in the wild live in the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque. The released minnows came from eggs taken from the river in May.
Scientists intend to improve habitat for endangered native fish in the Grand Canyon by capturing and killing 30,000 brown and rainbow trout. First, the government will try to disrupt spawning by varying water levels but most trout "will be captured and euthanized, their remains used by the Hualapai Tribe as garden fertilizer." Removing the non-native trout is part of two-year experiment to "restore some of the natural conditions" disrupted by construction of the Glen Canyon Dam three decades ago. Arizona Republic; 12/13 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5898>
The Department of Interior is relying on old data and shallow reasoning in allowing Peabody Coal Co. to continue to pump water from beneath Arizona's Black Mesa. [A column by the executive director of Black Mesa Trust and former Hopi tribal chairman.] Arizona Republic; <1/2 http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6158>
After initially rejecting the transfer of 200,000 af of water from Imperial Irrigation District (IID) to San Diego County, the IID Board finally agreed to the transfer for $258/af only after Gov. Davis offered another $350 million in additional assurances. [It is the largest-ever farm-to-city water sale.] The state offered $150 million in loan guarantees to protect farmers who invest in conservation systems from losses if the water transfer contract is terminated later. Another $200 million was pledged to help Imperial mitigate any harm the transfer inflicts on the Salton Sea. In another significant concession, the 75-year water transfer contract between the San Diego water authority and Imperial was restructured so that it could be terminated by either party in 45 years.
These last minute changes convinced two other parties to the transfer agreement who had already approved of the terms of the transfer, Metropolitan Water District (MWD) and Choachella ID, to back out of the deal. The sale is a critical component of the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) required to be executed by CA by the Interim Surplus Criteria (ISC). The ICS gives CA a "soft landing" of 15 years to reduce its use of the Colorado River from 5.2 maf to its allocation of 4.4 maf.
At a water users conference in Las Vegas last month, Sec. of Interior Gale Norton said California would be held to the limit of 4.4 million af annually without the QSA. Without an agreement, she said, the surplus supplies will be cut off immediately, with the 15-year transition period eliminated and a "hard landing" for the state resulting. If an agreement can be pieced back together, surplus deliveries can resume.
Despite the cuts in Colorado River water, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California said it has enough water for about two years to meet the water needs of the 17 million people -- about half the state population -- it serves. Backup plans include tapping state reservoirs and short-term water purchases from Sacramento Valley rice farmers. Longer term, the water agency will increase conservation efforts, increase water storage capacity, and begin generating drinking water from desalination plants.
Using strict interpretation of the "Law of the River," Reclamation is decreasing water deliveries to the IID by 205,000 af, considered waste, and decreasing deliveries to MWD by 415,000 af. IID has expressed its intent to challenge Reclamation's arbitrary reduction of deliveries as a taking of their water rights.
Nevada will lose 11 percent of its water from the Colorado River because California water officials failed to meet a Jan. 1 deadline to sign a deal to cut their take. NY Times; 1/2 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6146>
The Salton Sea and a possible Endangered Species Act (ESA) exemption are in the middle of a stand-off between Imperial County irrigators, the U.S. Interior Department and Southern California water districts that could result in the cuts to amount of Colorado River water the state takes, says SF Gate, AP 12/18. The irrigators are refusing to sell part of their water allotment to reduce the state's water needs, in part because of fears that they will be blamed for harming endangered bird species in the Salton Sea. The sea depends on farm runoff to keep the lake from becoming too saline to support fish and the 4 million migratory birds that use it as a stop over. The irrigators are asking for an ESA exemption as one of the conditions for signing the deal, "thus linking the fate of the Salton Sea to the future of California's water supply." [The cutbacks of water delivered to IID will mean 68,000 af less water reaching the Salton Sea.]
On Dec. 13, Alaska Water Exports (AWE) withdrew its application with the State Water Resources Control Board for permits to take water at the mouth of the Albion and Gualala Rivers for export to San Diego. The state's Coastal Commission voted unanimously that the project would also require their permit, and further directed staff to file an official protest, including an analysis of international trade agreements and the application of public trust doctrines. <http://www.citizen.org/>
A new study on global warming says water supplies could shrink in the West, casting doubts on Reno's plan to cut drought reserves to supply water to new subdivisions. Reno Gazette-Journal; Dec. 4 <http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2002/12/03/29339.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News>
A new study again recommends a controversial plan to pipe water from a lake on the California border to supply growth near Reno. Reno Gazette-Journal; Dec. 4 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5752>
Several water authorities in California's Central Valley are going to court to remove federal ESA protection from the Delta smelt which they maintain "slows and curtails some water deliveries to farmers" says the Contra Costa Times/Fresno Bee 12/5. The irrigators claim that the smelt, listed as a threatened species in 1993, has increased enough to warrant delisting but biologists counter that although ESA protection has aided the species' recovery, "numbers barely met the federal government's requirements" and that "delisting now may not be the best action."
A federal judge has ruled that diversion of nearly two-thirds of the water in northern California's Trinity River can continue pending a new study on how restoring a small part of the flow would affect power generation and endangered species in the Sacramento River Delta, says the Eureka Times-Standard 12/13. While environmentalists, fishermen and the Hupa and Yurok tribes pushed for the restoration to aid depleted salmon and steelhead runs, the Westland Water District and a Sacramento utility fought to stop it. "Strangely, while Westlands wanted more study on the restoration's effects on the endangered delta smelt, it also pushed to remove the fish from federal protection."
Ranchers and activists were anxious to see Montana officials adopt numeric water quality standards for rivers affected by coalbed methane drilling. Instead, the environmental officials deferred any standards on wastewater from coalbed methane wells until spring, but the BLM could make the process moot in the meantime. Great Falls Tribune;
An EPA study shows that options to remove or modify Milltown Dam near Missoula, MT, are equally feasible, but the finding doesn't consider cost or public opinion. Missoulian; Dec. 17 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5959>
Idaho officials rejected
a moratorium on new permits to withdraw water from the Spokane
aquifer but will instead develop a new management plan for the
aquifer. Spokesman Review; Dec. 13
Although portions of this report are used on occasion in Colorado Central
Magazine, we do not publish the full report there, as we do on this website.
It is prepared by Steve Glazer of Crested Butte and is distributed early each
month via an email list. To subscribe to that list, email to
<listserv@lists.sierraclub.org>
with SUBSCRIBE RMC-CONS-WATER as the message. Please note that this is an archive, and some links may no longer function. The United States Geological Survey Earth Surface Dynamics
Program has published a draft fact sheet on their analysis of the
"Precipitation
History of the Colorado Plateau Region, 1900-2000." They conclude
that there is evidence we are entering into another drought cycle as
of 1998 similar to that which affected the southwest from 1942-1977,
a 35-year drought. Temperature changes in ocean areas which correlate
with precipitation in the southwest suggest that we will receive less
total precipitation as snow, and a larger percentage of precipitation
in extreme weather events. The short-term cycle has a period of 4 to 7 years, in
association with the Southern [Pacific] Oscillation Index (SOI),
referred to as El Nino (warm surface water) and La Nina (cold surface
water) in the southern Pacific between Indonesia and Peru. The
long-term cycle, across many decades, is called the Pacific Decadal
Oscillation in the Northern Pacific Ocean. Changes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) trigger sharp
transitions from one climate regime to another on the Colorado
Plateau. These regimes last 2-3 decades. In this century, we had a
wet regime from 1900-1941, a drought from 1942-1977, and a wet regime
from 1978 - 1998, all in phase with PDO indices. The PDO and SOI
interact. Cool phases of the PDO are associated with the droughts,
while warm phases are associated with wet periods. The PDO began a
marked downward shift in 1999, the beginning of our current severe
drought. The report concludes: "Recent trends in southwest
precipitation and the PDO suggest that climate of the region may
become drier for the next 2-3 decades in a pattern that could
resemble the drought of 1942-1977.
<http://wa.water.usgs.gov/news/news.wri024176.html> Below-average snowfall so far this winter offers no
reprieve to take the edge off Colorado's drought, and across the
West, all those newcomers must accept that conservation measures are
here to stay. USA Today; Dec. 19
<http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20021219/4713977s.htm>
<http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6132> A Colorado
company wants permission to pump ground water from western Nebraska
and haul it to drought-stricken Front Range cities on million-gallon
trains. Denver Post; Dec. 19
<http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5997> One of
Colorado's most powerful lawmakers promised to intervene to keep
thousands of irrigation wells operating near Greeley in an escalating
water war between farmers and cities. Denver Rocky Mountain News;
Dec. 31
<http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6131> In an effort to improve winter flows in the Fraser
River in Grand County, the Denver Water Board has leased 1,400 af
from the Climax Molybdenum Company, a subsidiary of Phelps Dodge
Corp, that the company has in storage. This water is to be released
to Dillon Reservoir to replace inflows that Denver Water would have
otherwise collected from the Fraser River Basin. The Colorado River
Water Conservation District helped to facilitate this arrangement. In another effort to relieve some of the drought impacts in the
Gunnison River, the River District negotiated an arrangement with the
Redlands Water and Power Co. to forego generating power this winter
to allow all of the reservoirs in the basin to fill. By paying
Redlands $75,000 to replace their lost power, Redlands has agreed to
keep their "call" off the river through March, 2003. Legislators in Colorado's Western Slope expect to spend considerable
time next year wading through water bills, especially those with a
Front Range agenda, in hopes of dealing with the drought. Boulder
Daily Camera (AP); Dec. 17
<http://www2.dailycamera.com/bdc/state_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2419_1614971,00.html> A study of Colorado's $5 billion "Big Straw" project to siphon Colorado
River water back over the divide before it crosses into Utah would
also examine other options for capturing unused water, according to
panelists. Grand Junction Sentinel; Dec. 11
<http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5860> New
Mexico officials hope to buy 18,000 acres of farmland with water
rights along the Pecos River, and let the water flow into Texas to
satisfy the delivery obligation. Santa Fe New Mexican; Dec. 20
<http://www.sfnewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=6454837&BRD=2144&PAG=461&dept_id=367954&rfi=6> The US Fish and Wildlife Service has released over
41,000 captive-raised silvery minnows into the Rio Grande north of
Albuquerque to "test whether the fish can survive in that part of the
rivers" says the El Paso Times, AP 12/11. Most of the highly
endangered minnows left in the wild live in the Rio Grande south of
Albuquerque. The released minnows came from eggs taken from the
river in May. Scientists
intend to improve habitat for endangered native fish in the Grand
Canyon by capturing and killing 30,000 brown and rainbow trout.
First, the government will try to disrupt spawning by varying water
levels but most trout "will be captured and euthanized, their remains
used by the Hualapai Tribe as garden fertilizer." Removing the
non-native trout is part of two-year experiment to "restore some of
the natural conditions" disrupted by construction of the Glen Canyon
Dam three decades ago. Arizona Republic; 12/13
<http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5898> The Department of Interior is relying on old data and shallow
reasoning in allowing Peabody Coal Co. to continue to pump water from
beneath Arizona's Black Mesa. [A column by the executive director of
Black Mesa Trust and former Hopi tribal chairman.] Arizona Republic;
<1/2 http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6158> After
initially rejecting the transfer of 200,000 af of water from Imperial
Irrigation District (IID) to San Diego County, the IID Board finally
agreed to the transfer for $258/af only after Gov. Davis offered
another $350 million in additional assurances. [It is the
largest-ever farm-to-city water sale.] The state offered $150 million
in loan guarantees to protect farmers who invest in conservation
systems from losses if the water transfer contract is terminated
later. Another $200 million was pledged to help Imperial mitigate any
harm the transfer inflicts on the Salton Sea. In another significant
concession, the 75-year water transfer contract between the San Diego
water authority and Imperial was restructured so that it could be
terminated by either party in 45 years. These last minute changes convinced two other parties to the
transfer agreement who had already approved of the terms of the
transfer, Metropolitan Water District (MWD) and Choachella ID, to
back out of the deal. The sale is a critical component of the
Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) required to be executed by
CA by the Interim Surplus Criteria (ISC). The ICS gives CA a "soft
landing" of 15 years to reduce its use of the Colorado River from 5.2
maf to its allocation of 4.4 maf. At a water users conference in Las Vegas last month, Sec. of
Interior Gale Norton said California would be held to the limit of
4.4 million af annually without the QSA. Without an agreement, she
said, the surplus supplies will be cut off immediately, with the
15-year transition period eliminated and a "hard landing" for the
state resulting. If an agreement can be pieced back together, surplus
deliveries can resume. Despite the cuts in Colorado River water, the Metropolitan Water
District of Southern California said it has enough water for about
two years to meet the water needs of the 17 million people -- about
half the state population -- it serves. Backup plans include tapping
state reservoirs and short-term water purchases from Sacramento
Valley rice farmers. Longer term, the water agency will increase
conservation efforts, increase water storage capacity, and begin
generating drinking water from desalination plants. Using strict interpretation of the "Law of the River,"
Reclamation is decreasing water deliveries to the IID by 205,000 af,
considered waste, and decreasing deliveries to MWD by 415,000 af. IID
has expressed its intent to challenge Reclamation's arbitrary
reduction of deliveries as a taking of their water rights. Nevada will
lose 11 percent of its water from the Colorado River because
California water officials failed to meet a Jan. 1 deadline to sign a
deal to cut their take. NY Times; 1/2
<http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=6146> The Salton Sea and a possible
Endangered Species Act (ESA) exemption are in the middle of a
stand-off between Imperial County irrigators, the U.S. Interior
Department and Southern California water districts that could result
in the cuts to amount of Colorado River water the state takes, says
SF Gate, AP 12/18. The irrigators are refusing to sell part of their
water allotment to reduce the state's water needs, in part because of
fears that they will be blamed for harming endangered bird species in
the Salton Sea. The sea depends on farm runoff to keep the lake from
becoming too saline to support fish and the 4 million migratory birds
that use it as a stop over. The irrigators are asking for an ESA
exemption as one of the conditions for signing the deal, "thus
linking the fate of the Salton Sea to the future of California's
water supply." [The cutbacks of water delivered to IID will mean
68,000 af less water reaching the Salton Sea.] On Dec. 13, Alaska Water
Exports (AWE) withdrew its application with the State Water Resources
Control Board for permits to take water at the mouth of the Albion
and Gualala Rivers for export to San Diego. The state's Coastal
Commission voted unanimously that the project would also require
their permit, and further directed staff to file an official protest,
including an analysis of international trade agreements and the
application of public trust doctrines.
<http://www.citizen.org/> A new study on global warming says water supplies could shrink in the
West, casting doubts on Reno's plan to cut drought reserves to supply
water to new subdivisions. Reno Gazette-Journal; Dec. 4
<http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2002/12/03/29339.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News> A new
study again recommends a controversial plan to pipe water from a lake
on the California border to supply growth near Reno. Reno
Gazette-Journal; Dec. 4
<http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5752> Several water authorities in
California's Central Valley are going to court to remove federal ESA
protection from the Delta smelt which they maintain "slows and
curtails some water deliveries to farmers" says the Contra Costa
Times/Fresno Bee 12/5. The irrigators claim that the smelt, listed
as a threatened species in 1993, has increased enough to warrant
delisting but biologists counter that although ESA protection has
aided the species' recovery, "numbers barely met the federal
government's requirements" and that "delisting now may not be the
best action." A federal judge has ruled that
diversion of nearly two-thirds of the water in northern California's
Trinity River can continue pending a new study on how restoring a
small part of the flow would affect power generation and endangered
species in the Sacramento River Delta, says the Eureka Times-Standard
12/13. While environmentalists, fishermen and the Hupa and Yurok
tribes pushed for the restoration to aid depleted salmon and
steelhead runs, the Westland Water District and a Sacramento utility
fought to stop it. "Strangely, while Westlands wanted more study on
the restoration's effects on the endangered delta smelt, it also
pushed to remove the fish from federal protection." Ranchers
and activists were anxious to see Montana officials adopt numeric
water quality standards for rivers affected by coalbed methane
drilling. Instead, the environmental officials deferred any standards
on wastewater from coalbed methane wells until spring, but the BLM
could make the process moot in the meantime. Great Falls Tribune;
Western Water Report: January 4, 2003
WEATHER CYCLES
DROUGHT, CONSERVATION WILL REQUIRE PERMANENT LIFESTYLE CHANGES IN COLORADO
COLORADO FIRM WOULD HAUL WATER FROM NEBRASKA ON TRAINS
COLORADO WATER FIGHT MAY GO FROM COURT TO LEGISLATURE
DROUGHT RESPONSE
WESTERN COLORADO LAWMAKERS BRACE FOR SLEW OF WATER BILLS
MASSIVE COLORADO WATER PROJECT COULD SPAWN MORE MODEST OPTIONS
NEW MEXICO PLANS TO BUY PECOS FARMLAND, SEND WATER TO TEXAS
MINNOWS RELEASED
OFFICIALS TO REMOVE 30,000 TROUT FROM GRAND CANYON
INTERIOR'S CALLOUSNESS ON BLACK MESA THREATENS HOPI, NAVAJO CULTURE
INTERIOR CUTS WATER DELIVERY TO CALIFORNIA/DEADLINE MISSED
NEVADA CAN'T USE EXCESS COLORADO RIVER WATER, EITHER
ESA AT CENTER OF CA WATER DILEMMA
CA WATER TRANSFER APPLICATION WITHDRAWN
STUDY RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT RENO PLAN TO CUT DROUGHT RESERVES
RENO-AREA GROWTH COULD DRAW ON DISTANT WATER, STUDY SAYS
IRRIGATORS WANT DELTA SMELT DELISTED
TRINITY RESTORATION REMAINS ON HOLD
MONTANA'S TIMING POOR FOR SETTING COALBED METHANE RULES
12/11
<http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5853>
<http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2002/12/05/build/local/62-coalbed.inc>
An EPA study shows that options to remove or modify Milltown Dam near Missoula, MT, are equally feasible, but the finding doesn't consider cost or public opinion. Missoulian; Dec. 17 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=5959>
Idaho officials rejected a moratorium on new permits to withdraw water from the Spokane aquifer but will instead develop a new management plan for the aquifer. Spokesman Review; Dec. 13