DOCSLIB.ORG

Rethinking the Future of the Colorado River: Draft Interim Report of the Colorado River Governance Initiative

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Rethinking the Future of the Colorado River: Draft Interim Report of the Colorado River Governance Initiative University of Colorado Law School Colorado Law Scholarly Commons Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Books, Reports, and Studies Resources, Energy, and the Environment 2010 Rethinking the Future of the Colorado River: Draft Interim Report of the Colorado River Governance Initiative Colorado River Governance Initiative University of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center Western Water Policy Program Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/books_reports_studies Part of the Water Law Commons, and the Water Resource Management Commons Citation Information Rethinking the Future of the Colorado River: Draft Interim Report of the Colorado River Governance Initiative (Natural Res. Law Ctr., Univ. of Colo. Law Sch. 2010). RETHINKING THE FUTURE OF THE COLORADO RIVER: DRAFT INTERIM REPORT OF THE COLORADO RIVER GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE (Natural Res. Law Ctr., Univ. of Colo. Law Sch. 2010). Reproduced with permission of the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment (formerly the Natural Resources Law Center) at the University of Colorado Law School. RETHINKING THE FUTURE OF THE COLORADO RIVER Draft Interim Report of the Colorado River Governance Initiative December, 2010 For more information, visit www.waterpolicy.info or contact [email protected] I. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 2 II. The Argument for Significant Institutional Reform .................................................................. 3 The Broken Water Budget ........................................................................................................ 3 The Current Pathway to Reconciliation.................................................................................... 10 Shortcomings of the Current Approach ................................................................................... 12 The Upper Basin Climate Change Squeeze .......................................................................... 13 The Potential Role of Compact Calls in Future Basin Administration ................................. 17 III. Understanding the Resistance to Change ................................................................................ 19 Fear of Change .......................................................................................................................... 20 Substantive Misunderstandings ............................................................................................... 22 IV. Conclusions: Looking Forward ................................................................................................ 26 V. Literature Cited ......................................................................................................................... 28 Appendix A: An Overview of the Law and the River Issues, Omissions and Ambiguities............ 31 Appendix B: Stressors and Threats to the Water Budget of the Colorado River ........................ 57 Appendix C: Colorado River Issues and Options: Survey of CRWUA Members .......................... 83 List of Tables [in main report only] Table 1. Projected Upper Basin Depletions ................................................................................. 8 Table 2. Efforts to Clarify and Enforce Existing Water Allocation Rules (Pathway # 1) ............... 14 Table 3. Perceptions, by Sub-Region, of the Severity of Problems and the Need for Action...... 23 Table 4. Perceptions of Problem Severity & the Need for Action by Belief in Future Flow Reductions .................................................................................................................................... 24 List of Figures [in main report only] Figure 1. Colorado River Flows to the Delta ................................................................................. 3 Figure 2. Storage on Lakes Powell and Mead, 1998 to 2010 ....................................................... 4 Figure 3. System-wide Supplies and Demands ............................................................................ 5 Figure 4. Storage in Lake Powell as a Function of Natural Inflows .............................................. 6 Figure 5. Storage in Lake Mead as a Function of Lake Powell Releases ...................................... 7 Figure 6. Supplies and Demands of Mainstem Water ................................................................. 9 Figure 7. Potential Pathways for Addressing Colorado River Issues ........................................... 11 Figure 8. Water Availability (by sub-basin) as a Function of Long-Term Average Flows ............. 16 1 I. Introduction The Colorado River is one of the most thoroughly studied, debated and contested natural resources in the world, and for good reason. For residents of the seven basin states and northwestern Mexico, it is both an economic lifeline and a cultural marker, massively engineered to provide a steady flow of water and hydropower for cities, farms and industry, while retaining enough wildness to showcase a stunning diversity of physical, environmental and recreational amenities. By almost any standard, it is the jewel of the American Southwest—and it is in trouble. Of all that is expected of the river, the primary focus of the struggles and investments—of a political, legal, economic and engineering nature—has been to utilize the river as a water supply source, even when this has meant sacrificing other values and uses. But the ability of the physical and institutional system to fulfill this central function is increasingly in doubt and, for a variety of reasons, is likely to become further compromised should we continue along the current management pathway. The Colorado River Governance Initiative (CRGI), based at the University of Colorado Law School, is a research project inspired by several decades of research on Colorado River issues, all culminating in the belief that significant institutional reforms must be an essential component of any strategy to effectively address the region’s water management challenges of today and tomorrow. Inevitably, this means reexamining the structure and functioning of the “Law of the River,” the suite of laws and policies governing water allocation and river management, all built upon the Colorado River Compact (the “Compact”) of 1922.1 It is worth explicitly noting that the CRGI is not based on the premise that the Compact must be “thrown out” or “renegotiated”; those actions are not politically viable, and ignore the fact that the core principles articulated in the Compact are appropriate and highly valued. But the way in which those core principles are translated into river management and water allocation will need to be revisited, and undoubtedly will be. This, of course, is nothing new. On many occasions—the latest being the negotiation of the “Interim Guidelines” in 20072—such discussions have occurred, and incremental reform has resulted. What is different now is that we are at a point in which incremental reform along the “traditional” pathway has reached a point of diminishing returns, and may in fact be stifling efforts to consider different, and better, future pathways. It is the aim of the CRGI to show the shortcomings of the current trajectory and, therefore, the 1 This paper is designed for individuals with a working familiarity with the basin and its management, including the Law of the River. For those desiring more background information, Appendix A provides a general review. 2 USBR, 2007. Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Department of the Interior. http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/strategies.html 3 Much of this discussion draws from the CRGI white paper: “Stressors and Threats to the Water Budget of the 2 USBR, 2007. Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Department of the Interior. http://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/programs/strategies.html 2 value of considering significantly different approaches, and to inspire and cultivate the new ideas that will allow basin leaders to more effectively address the challenges that lie ahead. In this Interim Phase 1 Report, we summarize research and analysis conducted in Year 1 of the CRGI, focused primarily on articulating the argument for significant reform. In the Phase 1 Comprehensive Report due in draft form at the completion of Year 2 (December 2011), this discussion will be expanded to include a more detailed discussion of specific reform options. II. The Argument for Significant Institutional Reform The Broken Water Budget3 The argument for change on the Colorado River begins with a simple, and largely irrefutable, observation: as a water supply source, the river is already stretched to its limits. There are several indicators of this reality. First, significant flows have not consistently reached its terminus in the Colorado River delta for half a century, as shown in Figure 1.4 30 25 20 Feet Feet (MAF) - 15 10 5 Million Acre Million 0 Figure 1. Colorado River Flows to the Delta 3 Much of this discussion draws from the CRGI white paper: “Stressors and Threats to the Water Budget of the Colorado River Basin” by John Berggren, Doug Kenney, and Anne Bensard (2010). That report is attached here as Appendix B. 4 Figure 1 is adapted from data compiled by Kevin Wheeler. At one time, the Delta was among the most
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Little Colorado River Project: Is New Hydropower Development the Key to a Renewable Energy Future, Or the Vestige of a Failed Past?
    COLORADO NATURAL RESOURCES, ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW The Little Colorado River Project: Is New Hydropower Development the Key to a Renewable Energy Future, or the Vestige oF a Failed Past? Liam Patton* Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 42 I. THE EVOLUTION OF HYDROPOWER ON THE COLORADO PLATEAU ..... 45 A. Hydropower and the Development of Pumped Storage .......... 45 B. History of Dam ConstruCtion on the Plateau ........................... 48 C. Shipping ResourCes Off the Plateau: Phoenix as an Example 50 D. Modern PoliCies for Dam and Hydropower ConstruCtion ...... 52 E. The Result of Renewed Federal Support for Dams ................. 53 II. HYDROPOWER AS AN ALLY IN THE SHIFT TO CLEAN POWER ............ 54 A. Coal Generation and the Harms of the “Big Buildup” ............ 54 B. DeCommissioning Coal and the Shift to Renewable Energy ... 55 C. The LCR ProjeCt and “Clean” Pumped Hydropower .............. 56 * J.D. Candidate, 2021, University oF Colorado Law School. This Note is adapted From a final paper written for the Advanced Natural Resources Law Seminar. Thank you to the Colorado Natural Resources, Energy & Environmental Law Review staFF For all their advice and assistance in preparing this Note For publication. An additional thanks to ProFessor KrakoFF For her teachings on the economic, environmental, and Indigenous histories of the Colorado Plateau and For her invaluable guidance throughout the writing process. I am grateFul to share my Note with the community and owe it all to my professors and classmates at Colorado Law. COLORADO NATURAL RESOURCES, ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REVIEW 42 Colo. Nat. Resources, Energy & Envtl. L. Rev. [Vol. 32:1 III. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF PLATEAU HYDROPOWER ...............
    [Show full text]
  • Operation of Flaming Gorge Dam Final Environmental Impact Statement
    Record of Decision Operation of Flaming Gorge Dam Final Environmental Impact Statement I. Summary of Action and Background The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) has completed a final environmental impact statement (EIS) on the operation of Flaming Gorge Dam. The EIS describes the potential effects of modifying the operation of Flaming Gorge Dam to assist in the recovery of four endangered fish, and their critical habitat, downstream from the dam. The four endangered fish species are Colorado pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus lucius), humpback chub (Gila cypha), razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus), and bonytail (Gila elegans). Reclamation would implement the proposed action by modifying the operations of Flaming Gorge Dam, to the extent possible, to achieve the flows and temperatures recommended by participants of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program (Recovery Program). Reclamation’s goal is to implement the proposed action and, at the same time, maintain and continue all authorized purposes of the Colorado River Storage Project. The purpose of the proposed action is to operate Flaming Gorge Dam to protect and assist in recovery of the populations and designated critical habitat of the four endangered fishes, while maintaining all authorized purposes of the Flaming Gorge Unit of the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP), including those related to the development of water resources in accordance with the Colorado River Compact. As the Federal agency responsible for the operation of Flaming Gorge Dam, Reclamation was the lead agency in preparing the EIS. Eight cooperating agencies also participated in preparing this EIS: the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, State of Utah Department of Natural Resources, U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Equity and the Colorado River Compact
    TOJCI.ROBISON & KENNEY.DOC 11/26/2012 8:47 PM EQUITY AND THE COLORADO RIVER COMPACT BY JASON A. ROBISON & DOUGLAS S. KENNEY* The Colorado River and the elaborate body of laws governing its flows (Law of the River) are at a critical juncture, with a formidable imbalance between water supplies and demands prompting diverse efforts to evaluate and to think anew about Colorado River governance. One such effort is the Colorado River Governance Initiative (CRGI) at the University of Colorado Law School. Incorporating CRGI research undertaken over the past two-and-a-half years, this Article focuses on the interstate compact constituting the foundation of the Law of the River—the Colorado River Compact (Compact)—and approaches the water apportionment scheme established by this Compact as a subject of central importance in current efforts to navigate the future of the river. Lying at the base of the Compact is a commitment to equity—“equitable division and apportionment of the use of the waters of the Colorado River System”—which poses the fundamental question explored in this Article: To what extent does the Compact’s apportionment scheme fulfill this commitment to equity in its existing form? After providing an initial overview of the Compact, this Article considers the meaning of “equity” as a norm, setting the stage for a subsequent examination of water supplies and demands in the basin and of longstanding interpretive disputes involving the Compact’s key terms. This examination reveals several equity-related concerns associated with the composition of the Compact’s apportionment scheme and the governance structure devised for it.
    [Show full text]
  • Colorado River Compact, 1922
    Colorado River Compact, 1922 The States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, having resolved to enter into a compact under the Act of the Congress of the United States of America approved August 19, 1921 (42 Statutes at Large, page 171), and the Acts of the Legislatures of the said States, have through their Governors appointed as their Commissioners: W.S. Norviel for the State of Arizona, W.F. McClure for the State of California, Delph E. Carpenter for the State of Colorado, J.G. Scrugham for the State of Nevada, Stephen B. Davis, Jr., for the State of New Mexico, R.E. Caldwell for the State of Utah, Frank C. Emerson for the State of Wyoming, who, after negotiations participated in by Herbert Hoover appointed by The President as the representative of the United States of America, have agreed upon the following articles: ARTICLE I The major purposes of this compact are to provide for the equitable division and apportionment of the use of the waters of the Colorado River System; to establish the relative importance of different beneficial uses of water, to promote interstate comity; to remove causes of present and future controversies; and to secure the expeditious agricultural and industrial development of the Colorado River Basin, the storage of its waters, and the protection of life and property from floods. To these ends the Colorado River Basin is divided into two Basins, and an apportionment of the use of part of the water of the Colorado River System is made to each of them with the provision that further equitable apportionments may be made.
    [Show full text]
  • Law of the River the Colorado River Compact
    Colorado River Water Users Association: Law of the River . The Colorado River Compact . As the 20th century dawned, the The Colorado River Compact vast domain of the Colorado River lay almost entirely Boulder Canyon Project Act untouched. Though there had been a few early filings for Treaty with Mexico diversion and a "grand ditch" conveying water some 16 miles across the Continental Divide Upper Colorado River Basin into eastern Colorado in the late Compact of 1948 1800s, California's Imperial Valley was among the first areas to tap the river's true potential. In early 1901, the 60 mile long Alamo Canal, Colorado River Storage Project developed by private concerns, was completed to deliver Colorado Act River water for irrigation, and a wasteland was transformed. But the Imperial Valley did not move ahead without problems. About 50 miles Grand Canyon Protection Act of the canal coursed through Mexico, leaving the valley farmers at the mercy of a foreign government. And in 1905, the river, raging with Arizona vs. California floods, eroded the opening to the canal, roared through and created the Salton Sea before the river was pushed back into its normal channel. Future of Western Water With the constant threat of flood looming along the lower Colorado, demands grew for some sort of permanent flood control work -a storage reservoir and dam on the river. And Imperial Valley farmers called for a canal totally within the United States, free of Mexican interference. By 1919, Imperial Irrigation District had won the support of the federal Bureau of Reclamation. A bureau engineering board recommended favorably on the canal and added the government "should undertake the early construction of a storage reservoir on the drainage basin of the Colorado." While this report was greeted with enthusiasm by people along the river's lower stretches, it was viewed with alarm by those in upper reaches.
    [Show full text]
  • The Colorado River Compact and the San Juan–Chama Project
    THE COLORADO RIVER COMPACT AND THE SAN JUAN-CHAMA PROJECT The Colorado River Compact was signed in about 840,000 acre-feet/year (afy) to New 1922. This is an agreement for dividing the Mexico. water in the Colorado River basin between the “Upper Basin states” of Wyoming, Colorado, The San Juan-Chama Project was authorized Utah and New Mexico and the “Lower Basin by Congress in 1962 to allow some of New states” of Arizona, California and Nevada. Mexico’s share to be transferred across the The demarcation line between the two basins Continental Divide into the Rio Grande Basin. was set at Lee’s Ferry in northern Arizona, Construction began in 1964, and the tunnels close to the Utah border. The upper basin were completed in 1970. The water flows states are obliged to deliver 75 million acre- from three Colorado tributaries of the San feet (maf) at Lee’s Ferry during each 10-year Juan River, itself a tributary of the Colorado. period, or an average of 7.5 maf per year. An It is channeled through 26 miles of tunnels additional 1.5 maf per year was allocated to into creeks flowing into Heron Reservoir. Mexico in 1944, pursuant to a treaty relating From the reservoir the water is released into to the use of waters of the Colorado and the Chama River. Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande. The project is managed by the Bureau of In 1948, the Upper Colorado River Compact Reclamation and provides an average distributed 51.75% of the Upper Basin’s share diversion of about 110,000 afy, primarily for to Colorado, 23% to Utah, 14% to Wyoming municipal, domestic, and industrial uses, but and 11.25% to New Mexico.
    [Show full text]
  • Colorado River Slideshow Title TK
    The Colorado River: Lifeline of the Southwest { The Headwaters The Colorado River begins in the Rocky Mountains at elevation 10,000 feet, about 60 miles northwest of Denver in Colorado. The Path Snow melts into water, flows into the river and moves downstream. In Utah, the river meets primary tributaries, the Green River and the San Juan River, before flowing into Lake Powell and beyond. Source: Bureau of Reclamation The Path In total, the Colorado River cuts through 1,450 miles of mountains, plains and deserts to Mexico and the Gulf of California. Source: George Eastman House It was almost 1,500 years ago when humans first tapped the river. Since then, the water has been claimed, reclaimed, divided and subdivided many times. The river is the life source for seven states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming – as well as the Republic of Mexico. River Water Uses There are many demands for Colorado River water: • Agriculture and Livestock • Municipal and Industrial • Recreation • Fish/Wildlife and Habitat • Hydroelectricity • Tribes • Mexico Source: USGS Agriculture The Colorado River provides irrigation water to about 3.5 million acres of farmland – about 80 percent of its flows. Municipal Phoenix Denver About 15 percent of Colorado River flows provide drinking and household water to more than 30 million people. These cities include: Las Vegas and Phoenix, and cities outside the Basin – Denver, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. Recreation Source: Utah Office of Tourism Source: Emma Williams Recreation includes fishing, boating, waterskiing, camping and whitewater rafting in 22 National Wildlife Refuges, National Parks and National Recreation Areas along river.
    [Show full text]
  • Collaboration and the Colorado River Compact
    \\server05\productn\N\NVJ\8-3\NVJ307.txt unknown Seq: 1 18-JUL-08 13:19 COLLABORATION AND THE COLORADO RIVER COMPACT Patricia Mulroy* On December 13, 2007, at the Colorado River Water Users Association’s annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, the Secretary of the Interior signed a historic Record of Decision approving adoption of interim guidelines for the management of shortages in the Lower Colorado River Basin and the coordi- nated operation of Lake Powell and Lake Mead.1 The decision is historic because it outlines—for the first time in the history of the Colorado River Compact—specific guidelines for addressing shortage conditions among the three states in the Lower Basin (Arizona, California, and Nevada), as well as for coordinating the operation of Lakes Powell and Mead under low water con- ditions for the benefit of states in both the Upper and Lower Basins. The guidelines, in turn, substantially reflect the collaborative thinking and input of the seven basin states, as provided to the Secretary of the Interior on February 3, 2006,2 and April 30, 2007,3 as part of the Department of Interior’s two-year public involvement plan for the development of shortage criteria on the lower Colorado River. As noted by the Record of Decision, the guidelines include: ♦ [establishment of] discrete levels of shortage volumes associated with Lake Mead elevations to conserve reservoir storage and provide water users and managers in the Lower Basin with greater certainty to know when, and by how much, water deliveries will be reduced in drought and other low reservoir conditions; ♦ a coordinated operation of Lake Powell and Lake Mead determined by specified reservoir conditions that would minimize shortages in the Lower Basin and avoid the risk of curtailments in the Upper Basin; ♦ a mechanism to encourage and account for augmentation and conservation of water supplies, referred to as Intentionally Created Surplus (ICS), that would mini- mize the likelihood and severity of potential future shortages; and * General Manager, Southern Nevada Water Authority.
    [Show full text]
  • The Future of Glen Canyon Dam Management and Implications for the Grand Canyon
    Chapter 15: The Future of Glen Canyon Dam Management and Implications for the Grand Canyon Robyn Suddeth UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences INTRODUCTION – CHALLENGES FOR MANAGEMENT OF THE GRAND CANYON AND GLEN CANYON DAM Introduction The Grand Canyon occurs along a 277 mile stretch of the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Mead. It is a national treasure, exposing over 2 billion years of geologic history (see Garber, this volume; Kercher, this volume) and several thousand years of human history (see Zagofsky, this volume), providing varied recreational opportunities to millions of visitors annually. It is home to many species of birds, plants and animals. These recreational, historical, and wilderness values were recognized by the federal government in 1919 with the establishment of Grand Canyon National Park, but aquatic and riparian ecosystems in this reach have nonetheless suffered major changes in the past several decades, mostly due to the building of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963 (See Lusardi and Steele, this volume; Kelso, this volume). Glen Canyon Dam impedes transport of sediment and nutrients, and alters the temperature and flow regime of downstream reaches. Recent attempts to mitigate for these impacts have taken the form of an Adaptive Management Program, and High Flow Experiments (see Burley, this volume; Gibson, this volume), but have not yet been successful. The program is currently challenged by a lack of adequate understanding of how (if at all possible) to maintain sandbars post flood, and how and if flood events benefit target species within the canyon. Climate change and changing upstream dam operations will add to these challenges in the future, and may even threaten the existence of the Adaptive Management Program.
    [Show full text]
  • Upper Colorado River Basin Compact
    Upper Colorado lever Ba6in Compact Entered Into By The States of ARIZONA COLORADO NEW MEXICO UTAH WYOMING SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO OCTOBER 11, 1948 UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN COMPACT The State of Arizona, the State of Colorado, the State of New Mexico, the State of Utah and the State of Wyoming, acting through their Conunissioners, Charles A. Carson for the State of Arizona, Clifford H. Stone for the State of Colorado. Fred E. Wilson for the State of New Mexico, Edward H. Watson for the State of Utah and L. C. Bishop for the State of Wyoming. after negotiations participated in by Harry W. Bashore, appointed by the President as the representative of the United States of America, have agreed. subject to the provisions of the Colorado River Compact, to determine the rights and obligations of each signatory State respecting the uses and deliveries of the water of the Upper Basin of the Colorado River, as follows: ARTICLE I (a) The major purposes of this Compact are to provide for the equitable division and apportionment of the use of the waters of the Colorado Riva System. the use of which was apportioned in perpetuity to the Upper Basin by the Colorado River Compact; to establish the obligations of each State of the Upper Division with respect to the deliveries of water required to be made at Lee Ferry by the Colorado River Compact; to promote interstate comity; to remove causes of present and future controversies; to secure the expeditious agri­ cultural and industrial development of the Upper Basin, the storage of water and to protect life and property from.
    [Show full text]
  • Future Scenarios for the Colorado River
    American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources Hydrology, Science and Policy Future Scenarios for the Colorado River R. Eric Kuhn Colorado River Water Conservation District Glenwood Springs, Colorado 23rd Annual Water Law Conference San Diego, CA February 24-25, 2005 Introduction The Colorado River drains 242,000 square miles of the Southwestern United States from Wyoming to the Gulf of Baja California. The basin includes seven states. The river has its headwaters in the Wyoming and Colorado Rocky Mountains, but most of its drainage area is desert with an average annual precipitation of approximately 12” per year or less. The early development of the river was driven by the demand for water to irrigate new lands, provide water supply reliability for existing lands under irrigation, control the periodic large floods that devastated the Imperial Valley in the early 1900s and provide hydroelectric power for the economic development of the region. Today, the river is also a major source of municipal water for the urban centers within each of the seven Basin States: Cheyenne, Wyoming; the Wasatch Front in Utah; Colorado’s Front Range corridor from Ft. Collins to Pueblo, including Denver and Colorado Springs; Santa Fe and Albuquerque, New Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; the Tucson and Phoenix metropolitan areas, and the Southern California coastal plain are all major urban areas that receive a significant portion of their water supplies through projects that divert water from the mainstem or major tributaries of the Colorado River. Growth rates in the States of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona are all among the highest in the Unites States.
    [Show full text]
  • Downstream Effects of Damming the Colorado River
    International Journal of Lakes and Rivers. ISSN 0973-4570 Volume 10, Number 1 (2017), pp. 7-33 © Research India Publications http://www.ripublication.com Downstream Effects of Damming the Colorado River Aregai Tecle* *Professor, College of Engineering, Forestry and Natural Sciences Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona 86011. Abstract This paper deals with downstream riverine ecosystem effects of damming the Colorado River. The construction and operation of dams in the Colorado River have multiple benefits that include having increased water for irrigation and domestic supply, generation of hydroelectric power energy, providing improved aquatic recreation and wildlife habitat, and flood control. Damming the river has also some drawbacks. The storage of water behind dams has inundated and buried under invaluable cultural and historical artifacts. The damming and the extensive stream flow diversions for irrigation and water supply have also prevented the river water from reaching the delta area for months and sometimes for an entire year. In addition, damming the river has resulted in decreased sediment accumulation, especially in the Grand Canyon, and high level salinity and other chemical accumulations in the lower irrigated parts of the basin. Some efforts being made to ameliorate the negative effects of damming include periodic high flow experiments at Glen Canyon Dam to improve sediment dynamics, fish and wildlife habitat and the overall ecosystem along the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon. Another improvement effort being made is desalination of irrigation effluents in the lower Colorado River to improve the quality of water going to Mexico. Keywords: Colorado River management, effects of damming a river, laws of the river, sediment dynamics, water shortage, water quality.
    [Show full text]