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Climate change, drought to strain Colorado River; Pessimistic outlook for Colorado River dominates conference

Posted by: Maven on December 5, 2008 at 8:14 am

From the Associated Press:

Seven Western states will face more water shortages in the years ahead as climate change exacerbates the strains drought and a growing population have put on the Colorado River, scientists say.

“Clearly we’re on a collision course between supply and demand,” said Brad Udall, director of the Western Water Assessment at the University of Colorado.

Although there is some disagreement about when the most dire conditions will materialize, scientists at a conference in Salt Lake City said Thursday they expect less water to be available in the coming decades.

Without fundamental shifts in water management, the result will be shortages and difficult decisions about who in the seven states the river serves will get water and who will go without, said Dave Wegner, science director for the Glen Canyon Institute, which organized the one-day conference at the University of Utah.

“To me, it’s not going to be a pretty debate,” Wegner said.

Read more from the Associated Press by clicking here.

KSL.com, the NBC affiliate for Salt Lake, adds more. Increasing population and decreasing supply are putting Colorado River supplies on a collision course:

Richard Ingesbretsen of the Glen Canyon Institute said, “Somehow the system is going to break, and we’re not going to be able to grow our cities, and these reservoirs are just going to go away.”

It’s fueling calls for reform. California Congressman George Miller will be a key player with his powerful committee assignments.

“Unfortunately, over the last eight years, while we were trying to look toward the future, we had an ideological jihad going on against the scientists,” he said.

He suggests a strong legislative push on global warming, conservation, and water management reform. One issue being pushed here is that two big reservoirs waste too much water through evaporation.

Ingebretsen said, “The agenda we want to see is to have the water that is in Lake Powell stored in Lake Mead. There is a movement generally to move in that direction.”

Dennis Strong, Utah’s director of water resources, said, “I’m still optimistic that through management we’ll have the need for both reservoirs and that we’ll have enough water to meet our future demands.”

Read more of this story from KSL by clicking here. It’s well worth the click through.

December 5, 2008 · Filed Under Colorado River & the Southwest

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