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Study: Colorado won’t be able to make 9 of 10 deliveries by 2050

Posted by: Maven on April 23, 2009 at 8:02 am

From MyDesert.com:

Manmade climate change and a naturally occurring drought are combining to imperil one of the West’s most vital water sources, the Colorado River, a new scientific study concludes. Climate change is projected to reduce runoff from rain and snow melt in the Colorado River region by 10 percent to 30 percent, global climate models indicate.

If a 20 percent runoff reduction occurs, by 2050 nearly nine out of 10 scheduled deliveries of Colorado River water to those who rely on it wouldn’t be possible, according to the study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, based in La Jolla.

In a study last year, Scripps’ modeling showed a 50 percent chance that Lake Mead in Arizona would go dry by 2021 if climate change occurs as expected and future water usage isn’t curtailed. Lake Mead is the major reservoir of Colorado River water for the southwestern United States.

“A reservoir going dry is sort of an abstraction, certainly for the average person,” said Tim Barnett, a research marine physicist with Scripps and the new study’s lead author. “What we’re talking about here now is the water that comes out of your tap.”

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April 23, 2009 · Filed Under Colorado River & the Southwest

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