Western States Megadrought intensifies - predictions for bad Fire Season and severe water shortages for Colorado (Denver: subdivisions, quality of life)

[pikabike]

Originally Posted by LHS79

Yep- thus the reason we should be paying MUCH more for the resource.

I agree—and it should be ALL of us paying more. No ifs, ands, ors, buts.

[ponyupgrl]

What I didn't realize (or guess never thought about) prior to moving to a property with my own well, is that even though your well permit defines how much water you can consume per year, most of these wells don't have monitoring devices on them, and there is no mechanism to report or monitor.

So - even though I'm entitled to 2.5 ac ft consumption per year and am only supposed to irrigate up to an acre of land, for example - there is no way for anyone to find out if I'm doing something differently.

[TCHP]

This is potentially true, although some wells are monitored and the capability of doing so does exist, so unless you really get out of line to such a degree that your neighbors notice and someone complains, you may never be cited.

However, once you are on the radar of the CO Water Resource Board, life gets very complicated very quickly.

[wilberry]

this is not good news

https://www.kunc.org/environment/202...ocal-duck-pond

[TCHP]

This is actually not uncommon and has been going on for some time, as in decades. Unfortunately it has hit many places that have had many long standing water sources, some that occurred naturally and some that were deliberately planned. If places did not go through the due process or making sure these sources where know, approved, and everything was copesetic prior to recently, they could get troublesome in today's environment.

Locally, Crystal park has had a number of issues with the CO Water Resource board for similar issues as well as list of other items that all handled just among their residents without involving the COWRB. I doubt they are unique, as the above article demonstrates.

[Vision67]

Water shortages up and down the Colorado River


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU-FCQnCnMk


It seems this is quickly moving into the crisis stage. Expect lots of fireworks!

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by Vision67

Water shortages up and down the Colorado River


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU-FCQnCnMk


It seems this is quickly moving into the crisis stage. Expect lots of fireworks!

It continues to be bad here in SW Colorado. Take a look at this picture of McPhee Reservoir which provides water for a large part of our region. Every time I turn on the water tap, I wonder if this is the time that nothing will come out.

[Colorado Rambler]

From The Colorado Farm and Food Alliance:

We are in a climate emergency and western Colorado is square in the cross-hairs. The alarm is sounding: We must act now, in an urgent and unprecedented manner.


The Gunnison Basin is facing a climate emergency, putting our farm and food systems at severe risk. This map shows the warming that has already occurred in this Gunnison watershed since 1895. It is from our upcoming report on climate change in the region and some steps to take to avert worsening harm. Graphic credit: The Washington Post via the Colorado Farm & Food Alliance


Climate action, generally speaking, needs to do three things to reverse a descent into even greater ecological and social calamity. Importantly, we cannot trade one for the other, which is a bait and switch tactic some industry boosters are now pushing. We need an “all of the above” climate plan (to borrow a favored fossil fuel phrase). We cannot get by pretending, as the erstwhile denialists *** begrudging believers ask us to do, that some new fix will allow business to continue as usual. Instead, we must transform our practices and businesses to meet the needs of this moment.

We need to act, across all sectors, to:


Curb climate pollution.

Keep and return carbon in (to) the ground.

Adapt human systems to be climate-smart and restorative.



These necessary goals are both daunting and full of opportunity. They point to big and rapid change. But each also has the potential to inspire all manner of innovative technology, entrepreneurship, and solutions. So we cannot wait to get started. First we must stop adding to the problem.



This year atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have reached toward 420 ppm. Many places are already experiencing heating above the 1.5 degree threshold we are to avoid, as set by international accord. Ice caps, permafrost and glaciers are melting, sea levels rising, biological diversity collapsing: the ecological systems that have long allowed human civilization to flourish are in severe crisis. There is no time to paper over or “both sides” the situation we are in: If we do not act boldly and quickly, our livelihoods, our businesses, and our ability to prosper in the U.S. Southwest are all at severe risk.


The action required is monumental and we should not shy from declaring it as such. And just acknowledging that and reversing course can signal a shift in momentum. But the effort needs to accelerate if we are to avoid even more damaging heating ahead.

The Colorado Farm and Food Alliance certainly doesn't mince words! And they are correct. We are on track for more drought, more heat, and more vanishing reservoirs if we continue on with our "business as usual" attitude toward climate change. Each of us and all us combined can make a dramatic difference, but we must choose to do so, and act to do so NOW.

[Mike from back east]

Front page article on the WaPo today about the Mega-Drought here in the West. Some excellent pictures and graphics in the article.

Excerpt:

"The drought crisis is perhaps most apparent in the Colorado River basin, which saw one of its driest years on record, following two decades of less-than-adequate flows. The nation’s largest reservoir, Lake Mead near Las Vegas, is at its lowest level since the lake filled after the construction of the Hoover dam in the 1930s; it currently sits at 1,069 feet above sea level, or 35% of its total capacity. It supplies water to Arizona, Nevada, California and Mexico. Further upstream, Lake Powell, which feeds Lake Mead, is at only 34 percent of its total capacity. By next spring, Lake Powell is projected to hit its lowest level since it was filled in 1964, possibly jeopardizing its ability to generate power."

[Colorado Rambler]

On July 1, Gov. Jared Polis declared a drought emergency for the Western Slope, which will keep the state’s Drought Mitigation and Response Plan at its highest level for the region.

But the response to the drought isn’t just coming from within the state. The way [Robbie] LeValley sees it, her family, and the other ranchers and farmers on the Western Slope, are helping feed the nation, so the federal government should help them, too.

They need to supply “resources for the irrigation, for the drought assistance, (to) provide for that food security,” she said.

Extreme summer catches Washington’s attention

There’s a confluence of events happening in the West this summer: extreme heat, extreme drought and the possibility of another record-breaking wildfire season, all driven by a long-term drying trend worsened by climate change. It’s so serious that President Joe Biden convened a meeting last week with Western governors to talk about wildfire preparedness and response.

“This is an area that has been under-resourced. But that's going to change, if we have anything to do with it,” Biden said. “We can't cut corners when it comes to managing our wildfires or supporting our firefighters.”

Members of Colorado’s Congressional delegation have their own ideas for how to deal with the twin problems of drought and wildfires.

Roeber says he’s talked to Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, as well as his local representative, Republican Lauren Boebert, about the need for financial assistance for the ag industry, in particular flexibility in some existing programs, as well as better water efficiency policies and water infrastructure — from storage to piping.

“I think those types of programs we need to really get serious about funding and taking care of what water we do have,” he said.

Boebert backs increasing water storage capacity, something she hit on during a recent hearing.

(emphasis my own)

More from Colorado Public Radio

"Increasing water storage capacity" would be a great idea if only there was enough water to store. Alas, we can't just build a reservoir and then stand back and wait for nature to rain water down into it until it's full. If only...

Colorado is rapidly approaching an inflection point where we will have to decide between water for agriculture and water for our cities. What is the best for the economy of our state - a field of alfalfa or a new subdivision in Colorado Springs? I suspect that the subdivisions will win out.