| inbluevt | Date: Saturday, 2013/08/17, 3:31 AM | Message # 1 | DMCA |
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Due to water shortages in the Colorado River Basin, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation today announced first-ever cutbacks in water releases to the river’s lower basin, which could mean reduced water deliveries to Nevada and Arizona as early as next year.
The decision, triggered by historically low water levels in one of the river’s key reservoirs, Lake Powell in Utah, is unprecedented and significant.
It caps years of excessive water use in an arid region that has seen some of its driest years on record in recent years, especially the past two years where flows to Lake Powell have been the lowest in 100 years.
And it affects a vast number of people. The Colorado River makes modern living possible in seven western states by providing water for 40 million people and irrigation water for four million acres of farmland
producing 15 percent of the nation’s crops. The decision, which will reduce water releases from Lake Powell by nine percent, will invariably affect food prices.
But it would be wrong to call this a natural disaster. While drought and climate change are important factors in the river’s lower flows, human mismanagement is the bigger cause.
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Message edited by inbluevt - Saturday, 2013/08/17, 3:33 AM |
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