Hydrowonk attended the Colorado River Water Users Association in Las Vegas, catching up with clients at Thursday’s Percolation and Runoff reception. Running with senior water right users, Hydrowonk heard many complaints about this year’s panels barely mentioning the priority system. One wise observer noted that “this was a meeting of the Colorado River (Junior) Water […]
The Bureau of Reclamation’s first response to the failure of Colorado River Basin states to propose a plan to reduce the use of Colorado River water by 2 million acre-feet to 4 million acre-feet per year is to recognize evaporation and system losses in the Colorado River system, including the Lower Basin. Channeling the late […]
The Colorado River remains in disarray as parties search for ways to meet the Bureau of Reclamation’s announced goal of reducing use of Colorado River water by 2 million acre-feet to 4 million acre-feet annually perhaps through the year 2026 (https://hydrowonk.com/blog/2022/08/19/the-colorado-river-in-disarray/). Hydrowonk hears rumors that parties are struggling in negotiations to secure voluntary conservation to […]
The inevitable is upon us. Channeling Hydrowonk’s favorite Chicagoan theologian, “the curtailments have come home to roost.” Many are not surprised. The early 20th century was a period of historically high natural flows on the Colorado River when the 1922 Colorado River Compact was negotiated. The 1944 Treaty with the Republic of Mexico was, at […]