Three Drop Thursday: Bingo Cards & Conundrums
Friends of Confluence West -
In this week’s Three Drop Thursday,
A fascinating wrinkle (one not on my bingo card) with the Compact and water supply for the Front Range – a court ruled that Denver Water’s reservoir expansion NEPA and CWA violations, and gave a big ding to the Army Corp for not including climate projections in their permit.
The Salton Sea - a head-scratcher for a long time – how do we solve this one?
Alfalfa! – the bad boy of CRB ag production. Down in some states, up and down in others, and really up in Arizona (obviously, they have a magical water supply.)
In case you missed our last Three Drop, “Playing Chicken on the CRB and other stuff you can read all about the various tea leaves on our favorite total-crisis-mode water Basin.
For the West,
Kimery
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On your bingo card?
After many years of lawsuits, Denver Water is expanding one of its critical facilities, Gross Reservoir, above Boulder. This month, a lawsuit finally stuck: The United States District Court ruled, stating the reservoir expansion violates NEPA and the CWA.
The court also pointed the finger at the permitting agency for Gross Reservoir, the Army Corps, for not factoring in climate change and the Colorado River Compact rules. In a severe drought, Denver Water wouldn’t have any water from the surrounding streams and diversions from the West Slope to put into the reservoir.
In part of its ruling, the court said: “To the extent Denver Water disagrees, it has only itself to blame — because Denver Water chose to proceed with construction despite the obvious risk posed by pending federal litigation.”
An excellent piece in the Aspen Times from last December summarizes the Front Range cities that, like Denver Water, hold junior water rights for Colorado River Basin water. i.e., if and when a highly probable long-term drought hits the fan, those cities will take cuts.
I have a pretty extensive western water and climate change bingo card, but this court ruling wasn’t on it.
Another Gnarly Conundrum
Imperial Irrigation District (IID), the single largest user of Colorado River water, is using less water. This good. This is commendable. But then, another shoe continues its slow drop – the shrinking Salton Sea.
Ian James’ excellent piece “As California farms use less water, worries grow over shrinking Salton Sea” points out that as less IID water comes off the fields, the more dry lake bed is exposed, leading to lung-damaging dust and making the water too salty for migrating birds.
The State of California is years behind in building extensive wetlands on the shores. The Sierra Club and others have sued to block IID’s conservation program for the Sea, saying it’s too little, too late. The Biden Administration has pledged $250 million in IRA funds to expand Salton Sea Projects. California has just authorized the formation of a Salton Sea Conservancy (which hopefully will be more effective than the state’s last project).
Another very gnarly climate change conundrum requires, first and foremost, diverse leadership rolling up their sleeves to find solutions and a heck of a lot more funding.
Got Alfalfa?
John Fleck’s recent post summarizes the “bad boy” of the Colorado River Basin agriculture – alfalfa. In a nutshell (these are USDA numbers)
New Mexico’s production is trending down;
California’s is way down;
Colorado’s is up and down;
Arizona’s is scarily climbing. (Dear AZ - do you know something about water supply the rest of us don’t know?)
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