Interior Department Warns Of Permanent Water Crisis In Western States

WASHINGTON, DC, March 10, 2004 (ENS) - "Western states bracing for another dry, hot summer need to recognize a fundamental shift in the contentious debate over water supplies, a top Interior Department official said on Tuesday. The drought stricken region now faces the "potential for crisis in normal conditions," according to Interior Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Bennett Raley.

The Western water disputes of the last century were largely limited to times of drought or focused on long term control of the resource, Raley told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. That has changed, and the debate is no longer driven by drought, he said. The continued population growth of the West, combined with the demands of agriculture and conservation, "guarantee that without action today we will have crises in normal years," Raley warned.

Many in the West would welcome a normal year, but there are few signs one is around the corner. The interior West is suffering from a multiyear drought that began in 1999, according to Dr. Louis Uccellini, director of the National Center for Environmental Prediction at the National Weather Service.

Uccellini told the committee the current drought is one of the worst the West has seen in the past 40 to 100 years. He said a return to more normal snowfall this winter will provide some relief - snow contributes some 50 percent to 80 percent of the region's water supply. But accumulated long term deficits remain large in many areas - in particular in the Southwest. The majority of reservoirs in Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona are at 50 percent or below normal levels, he told the committee, and changing climate patterns could increase pressure on the arid region in the future."

EDIT

http://forests.org/articles/reader.asp?linkid=30073

but the Front Range watershed is still only about 75%.

People are talking about dams, and as a whitewater enthusiast, this seriously concerns me.

"We'll build more dams so we'll have more water so more people will move here and the economy will boom so we'll need more water so we'll build more dams so more people will move here and the economy will boom so we'll need more water . . . . "

Didn't this particular train of thought derail somewhere in Los Angeles about 30 years ago?

In Las Vegas or Phoenix???

you may have to shovel snow, but you _cannot_ drink sand.

The entire American side of the Laurentian Basin is waiting to address those needs. And BTW we have no intention of putting water into pipes.

The Great Lake States await rediscovery.

WATER, most of what you are and absolutely required for _everything_ in life.

Whats in your tap?

Twenty or thirty years ago, the Texans were making noises about piping Lake Michigan to Dallas. This is around the time that all the jobs went south. I remember bumper stickers saying "Let them drink oil."

I return to the RB several times a year to see family and friends. Maybe next time I'll see bumper stickers saying "Let them drink sand."