Category Archives: Colorado River Basin

What Would Lloyd Allen Do?

With the Colorado River in crisis, long-term and newly found friends in the Imperial Valley have reached out to Hydrowonk seeking advice and counsel.  After two decades of drawing down water storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the Bureau of Reclamation and junior water right holders are banging on the door of the Imperial Valley demanding a bail out because, evidently, they are “too big to fail.” 

Channeling Elon Musk, Hydrowonk keeps it short and sweet.  First, honor and protect the legacy of the Imperial Valley’s pioneers who literally dug your community out of the dirt with their own bare hands.  Second, channel the wisdom of Lloyd Allen.   

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What Can Colorado River Senior Water Right Users Learn from the NLF Players Union?

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 Users Association.”

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The Wisdom of Bruce Babbitt

Yesterday, former Arizona Governor and Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt called for the immediate implementation of Tier 3 curtailments under the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan (“DCP”) in an opinion piece in The Arizona Republic, Feds should declare a Tier 3 water shortage on the Colorado River (azcentral.com).  Governor Babbitt is advocating this action in the face of inaction by Colorado River parties, including the federal government.

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Recent Agreement by the Federal Government Is Not a Good Deal for the Salton Sea

A feature by Sarah Pilla of Spectrum News 1 covers the recent agreement in which federal government is providing money for Salton Sea restoration projects in exchange for 400,000 AF/year of conservation by Southern California water agencies, with the Imperial Irrigation District responsible for the largest amount of conservation. While the deal has been lauded as a solution for keeping water in Lake Mead, Hydrowonk says it is not a good deal for the Salton Sea.

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