West’s water shortage reaches historic levels
PAGE, Ariz. – The 150-foot-tall white “bathtub” ring along the red rocks of Lake Powell is the first sign that something isn’t right.
Other signs are everywhere: Boat ramps high and dry. Rock arches emerging from decades-long submersion. Boat wrecks uncovered by the receding water. Vast mudflats where water once pooled.
Lake Powell, the nation’s secondlargest reservoir, is about 30% full and dropping, a water level not seen since the reservoir was first filled when the Glen Canyon Dam blocked up the Colorado River in 1963.
Two hundred miles downstream, the situation is almost identical at Lake Mead, the nation’s biggest reservoir: same bathtub ring, same dry boat ramps, same mudflats. The historically low levels prompted federal authorities to formally declare a water shortage for drought-stricken southwestern areas served by Lake Mead, cutting water supplies to Arizona by nearly 20% and 7% for Nevada.
The water shortages are signs of an
increasingly dire and dry climate across the West. Experts said these conditions will lead to higher food prices across the country, bigger and hotter forest fires and lifestyle changes for tens of millions of Americans, who depend on the water to drink, irrigate their lawns and wash their cars.
Colorado River climate researcher Brad Udall was shocked to see water levels in Lake Powell have dropped 50 feet from a year ago. Udall has rafted down the Grand Canyon 45 times, giving him a water-level view of the Colorado River’s flow.
“I mean, you go to the boat ramps, and they just end, and in some cases, they’re nowhere near the water,” said Udall, a senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University. “You’ve got to go back to 1969 – six years into filling it – to find an equivalent level.”
Ten governors asked President Joe Biden to provide federal disaster funding for the West, parts of which have been in a drought for 22 years.
Lake Mead provides drinking water for 25 million people, from Phoenix to Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The low water levels also could mean higher food costs for anyone who enjoys Colorado beef, California almonds or lettuce from Arizona.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, one of the 10 governors who sent the letter to Biden, said national solutions are needed, given the number of states affected. Noting that Colorado saw three of its largest wildfires last year, and California has seen several this year, Polis said smoke and ash from burning forests affect Midwestern and Eastern states.
Though water issues in the West have pitted states against each other over who is entitled to how much, Polis said it’s time for more regional and national cooperation. He said federal drought assistance would help farmers keep food in grocery stores, and federal engineers could help develop reservoirs to “bank” water, along with encouraging more efficient farming irrigation systems.
“Western states are tired of fighting like dogs over a shrinking pie,” Polis said. “We need to change the game.”
Though the West has both wet and dry spells, Udall said climate change is responsible for at least a third of the overall drop in rain and snow.
“It’s a lot warmer, it’s a lot drier,” Udall said. “Droughts are temporary. This is not temporary.”
Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom asked residents and businesses to curb water use by 15%, a request that was largely ignored this summer. The state backs a $100 million research effort to turn salty ocean water into water to drink and grow food. California grows one-third of the country’s vegetables, and twothirds of its fruits and nuts, from nearly $5 billion in grapes to $2.7 billion worth of beef and more than $1 billion in tomatoes. Little of that agriculture would happen if the Colorado River didn’t provide irrigation water.