CNBC has a front page article here on water allocation cuts in Arizona. As we have seen coming since the Glen Canyon water limits issues, water allocations are falling:
An intensifying drought and declining reservoir levels across the Western U.S. prompted the first-ever cuts to Arizona farmers’ water supply from the Colorado River.
Now, I would wonder about the logic of basing high water use crops — corn, cotton, and alfalfa — in a desert. But I can see why the US, back in the 40s, would want to promote public works that would people to move into and develop underdeveloped sections of thee country, especially the desert Southwest. But success breeds its own problems.
And the pull population to the desert has been wild beyond anyone’s dreams. Arizona had a population of just over 430,000 in 1930 (by comparison, Colorado had a population of just over 1 million). In 2020, Arizona had a population of over 7.1 million (Colorado is now over 5.7 million).
All of that growth is fueled by Colorado River water and the damming of other rivers. The Colorado River isn’t the only water source feeling the impacts of the megadrought occurring now. And it has impacts:
The Bureau of Reclamation in August declared a water shortage at Lake Mead, one of the river’s primary reservoirs, after water levels fell to historic lows. More than one-third of Arizona’s water flows up the Colorado River to Lake Mead.
The government’s declaration triggered Tier 1 water reductions, which slashed the state’s river water supply by nearly 20%, or 512,000 acre-feet. One acre-foot of water supplies about two households each year.
Arizona farmers use nearly three-quarters of the available water supply to irrigate their crops.
They are also faced by a grappling with a recent 33% price hike for water in some counties.
Phoenix’s water resource management advisor is quoted
“The American West is a canary in the coal mine for climate change,” Campbell said, in a meeting at Phoenix City Hall. “These problems will start happening in other places too.”
The canary is dying — you might think about what that means for the residents of the American Southwest if they don’t wake up.
This won’t be the last time we see news on this. Unfortunately, I feel the only thing I can say about the cuts in allocations and price increases for agricultural water use in the desert Southwest is that it’s about time and much later than it should be.