Tag: tipping-point
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NEWS | Why a good snow year can’t save the Colorado River
The Colorado River is one of the West’s most vital resources. But 20 years of drought have stressed the entire river basin, forcing federal officials to call for massive cuts in water use. This winter, in the water-towers of the west, storms have dropped more than double the average snowpack in some Colorado mountains. But…
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Tipping Point: A Call for Change on the Colorado
One hundred years of the Colorado River Compact — the agreement that divides 15 million acre feet of water each year among the seven states of the Colorado River basin and Mexico — has wrecked on the shoals of climate change and 22 years of drought. It doesn’t work anymore. What happens when the law…
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Tipping Point: Colorado River tribes fight for their water rights
Some 10,000 households on the vast Navajo Nation, which covers 27,000 square miles in three states, are still without running water. Native American tribes hold some of the most senior water rights in the Colorado River Basin, but history has shown that having senior water rights and having water are two different realities. The tribes,…
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Tipping Point: Lake Powell reaches record lows amid drought
Drought on the Colorado River is threatening the ability of major dams, including Glen Canyon Dam at Page, Ariz., to produce hydropower, which comprises 54% of renewable energy production in the Southwest. The low levels on Lake Powell have also had a negative impact on recreation, complicating boat access. (Video by Skyler Ballard)
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Tipping Point: Urban Demands on the Colorado River
Urban areas in the West and water districts are working to conserve water from the Colorado River Basin as it continues to face its driest 22-year stretch in more than 100 years. (Video by Skyler Ballard)
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Tipping Point: Colorado River basin farms stunted by megadrought
Farmers across the Colorado River Basin are facing an uncertain future in agriculture as the river’s watershed faces ongoing drought, rising irrigation costs, and conservation cutbacks. (Video by Skyler Ballard)
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Tipping Point: Colorado River strain casts shadow over recreation
Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado’s largest body of water, is at its lowest level ever. Plagued by drought and meager snowpack, the reservoir is not even 50% full. In an attempt to shore up Lake Powell and keep power-generating turbines turning, regulators pulled about 36,000 acre-feet from Blue Mesa last year, causing the closure of the…
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Tipping Point: Fire on the Colorado River watershed
Historic drought and low-runoff conditions have impacted the Colorado River Basin for several decades, robbing the area of moisture and priming the land for wildfires. In October of 2020, the East Troublesome spread through Grand County, devastating the drought-stricken terrain with a speed and ferocity no one in Colorado had seen before. As the fire grew,…