Waterfront conference showcasing Yuma
Speaker addresses ebbs, flows of Colorado River
Editor’s note: This story is the first of four parts that focus on the Colorado River, based on information shared by speakers during the 33rd Annual International Conference on Urban Waterfront Planning, Development and Culture.
About a hundred planners, architects, developers and other professionals from around the country are in Yuma attending the 33rd annual International Conference on Urban Waterfront Planning, Development and Culture. The conference, with the theme “Water: The Defining Force — Challenges for Waterfronts in the 21st Century,” kicked off on Wednesday and runs through Saturday.
The Waterfront Center of Washington, D.C., teamed up with the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area to host the conference, which features two tracks, one focused on resiliency against hurricanes and flooding and the other on the challenges facing the Colorado River.
A get-acquainted dinner was held Wednesday evening at the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, built in 1909 and now used as a cultural event center. Preconference field trips were held Thursday to highlight Yuma’s riverfront redevelopment projects and the area’s complex water development and management system. Yuma’s irrigation technology produces more than 90 percent of the leafy greens
and vegetables consumed nationwide during winter.
Fields trips also included a walking tour of Gateway Park and Yuma East Wetlands, a 400-acre wetlands restoration considered a model for restoration in the desert Southwest, a walking tour of the Yuma West Wetlands, a 110-acres riverfront park converted from the city’s landfill, and a travel tour of the Imperial Dam, an engineering “marvel” where nearly 90 percent of the remaining water in the Colorado River is diverted, mostly to California.
This day ended with a welcome reception and dinner at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park.
“It’s been going great,” Heritage Area Director Charles Flynn said Friday. He noted that of the 100 participants, about half of the conference attendees, primarily those from the East Coast, went on the field trips.
“It was a good introduction not only to Yuma but to the Colorado River,” Flynn said.
This conference is usually held in large metropolitan areas like New York City, Chicago and Boston, but Flynn was able to bring the conference to Yuma after the city won an “Excellence on the Riverfront” award from the Waterfront Center in October 2014.
“They became more and more intrigued at how we integrated recreation, environmental and commercial development on a river. We invited them down last January to show them the facility and what we could do, and they agreed to co-host the event,” Flynn explained, noting it helped they had never focused on the “mighty” Colorado River.
“Yuma is on the national stage and showcasing extremely well, and we’re proud of that,” he said, also adding that many of the attendees from the East are enjoying the warmer weather.
Colorado River speakers include technical and restoration experts such as Dr. Jack Schmidt, Jim Cherry, Fred Phillips and John Swett to Tom Davis, who will speak today on behalf of the Yuma farming community, and Osvel Hinojosa, who will also speak today about Mexico’s vision for the river’s future.
Ebbs and flows of the Colorado River
Anne Castle, former assistant secretary for water and science, U.S. Department of the Interior, talked about “The Years of Living Dangerously — Ebbs and Flows on the Colorado River” during Friday morning’s keynote address.
The Colorado River is one of the most rich and complex in the country but also one of the most stressed, Castle noted. She pointed out how almost everyone in the nation is connected in some way to the river, including those who have visited the Grand Canyon, eaten lettuce in the winter or taken a drink of water in some of the major urban areas of the Southwest.
The river starts in Colorado, enters Arizona through its north-central region, crosses to the western side of the state and then makes its way south, acting as the border between California and Arizona, into the Sea of Cortez and Gulf of California in Mexico. However, the river serves more than the basin areas, including New Mexico, Wyoming and Southern California.
“This river water has been spread out quite a ways,” Castle said.
The Colorado River Compact, which was enacted in 1922 and included four states, initially divided the water equally between the lower and upper basins, giving each portion 7.5 million acre feet. In 1944, as a result of a treaty, Mexico was added to the compact and given 1.5 MAF a year. (Million acre feet is the amount of water that covers an area of land one feet deep. One acre feet equals 325,851 gallons of water. One acre foot serves two households of four per year.)
“Fast forward to the future ... Things aren’t looking terrific since 2000,” Castle said, noting the river’s water levels have significantly declined in the last 18 years, hitting an all-time low in 2002.
Water flows are at 55 percent due to a lack of snowpack, at a time when demand is up.
Castle likened the depleting reservoir levels to a bank account. “If you routinely take out more than you are depositing, even if you have lots of savings, ultimately you’ll get into trouble.”
A study by the Bureau of Reclamation predicts that the river will have a 3.2 MAF shortfall by 2060.
What has been done
However, Castle noted, things have been a little better than predicted because of steps taken by stakeholders. Quite a bit has been done. The 2007 Interim Guidelines have called for sharing of shortages and surpluses. Unfortunately, there has not been a surplus since 2007.
The guidelines also call for equalization of lake levels and intentionally creating a surplus by storing water and conserving part of the delivery of contracts.
Arizona and Nevada agreed to reduce their water shares when reservoir levels dropped to 1,075 feet. California does not reduce its share due to a deal over the Central Arizona Project in which Arizona agreed to bear the shortages for both states.
Minute 319 (a minute is an agreement that provides details for implementing a treaty), effective from 2013 to 2017, addressed further shortage sharing. Although it has expired, it’s the basis for what’s happening now, a usual partnership between the U.S. and Mexican federal governments, seven basin states, key U.S. water districts and multiple environmental non-governmental organizations from both sides of the border.
The partnership includes an agreement to share shortages and surpluses and a U.S. investment of $21 million for infrastructure. Castle said it’s the only agreement she knows of that provides for cross-border flow.
This agreement is what brought about the pulse flow of 2014, which allowed water to reach the Sea of Cortez for the first time in five decades. The lessons learned, according to Castle, was that water did the most good in the active restoration areas and base flows may be more important for the environment.
“The most important lesson we weren’t expecting was the human element, reconnection of the communities to the river, the incredible response of the communities that started because of the river. There were kids in the river, there were pets in the river. Everyday the celebration got bigger. There were carnival rides, vendors, a brass band. There was dancing on the beach. It was emotional, something I will never forget.”
New and ongoing efforts include a seven-state drought contingency plan and a new agreement with Mexico. The Lower Basin has a new shortage sharing schedule that starts quicker, at 1,090 feet. California has now agreed, at least in concept, to take shortages at 1,045 feet. The Bureau of Reclamation is also trying to find ways to save water.
What’s next?
The drought contingency plan needs to be “nailed down” and a work group will determine how the U.S. and Mexico can jointly plan and operate the river in the future. The overall structural deficit also needs to be addressed.
Among the challenges are climate change, which could cause the loss of another 20 percent of water by 2050 and 35 percent by 2010; the Salton Sea; tribal settlements and unused tribal water; and making sure not to sacrificice the agricultural economy nor the environment.
Castle noted conservation can negatively impact agriculture, even if Yuma is the No. 1 water-rights holder, “so it’s a struggle.”
Significant achievements include voluntary reductions in demand, triggered by falling reservoir levels; the unusual collaboration between two federal governments, seven states, water agencies, NGOs, tribes and philanthropy; and little major litigation over the last 15 years.
“Collaboration and agreement has become the default and litigation is seens as failure, and failure is not an option,” Castle said.
Part 2: A comprehensive overview of the development of the Colorado River in the 20th Century, including the building of the dams, resulting environmental damage and efforts to help endangered species.