Colorado River Basin Water Management Evaluating and Adjusting to Hydroclimatic Variability (2007) / Chapter Skim
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5 Colorado River Basin Drought Planning Strategies and Organizations
5 Colorado River Basin Drought Planning Strategies and Organizations
Pages 133-150
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From page 133... ...
. Increasing urban populations and water demands over the past two decades have highlighted the importance of drought planning in the context of urban water management.
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From page 134... ...
During the 1950s and 1960s, water storage capacity greatly expanded in the Colorado River basin, with Lake Mead and Lake Powell providing a combined storage capacity of roughly 55 million acre-feet -- almost four times the river's annual average flow. As a result, water supply problems afflicting the Colorado River basin today thus relate less to storage capacity (for example, in 2006 most of the basin's reservoirs were well below capacity and could store much more water)
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From page 135... ...
This chapter discusses issues of drought planning and coping with water shortages, especially in the rapidly urbanizing Colorado River basin. It identifies organizations, programs, and studies aimed at improving drought planning and response.1 It also discusses strategies that municipalities have used to help conserve water, especially during drought.
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From page 136... ...
regarding water management alternatives and system improvements. Examples of these activities include assisting project offices in forecasting water supplies, assisting in water transfers requiring use of Bureau of Reclamation project facilities, modifying project facilities or operations, and helping develop state drought indices.
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From page 137... ...
is part of the National Weather Service and is located in Salt Lake City. The CBRFC issues operational forecasts for upper and lower Colorado River basin weather (along with local offices)
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From page 138... ...
. NRCS also sponsors the National Water and Climate Center, which provides information on snowpack and water supply forecasts in the western United States.
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From page 139... ...
. All the Colorado River basin states have some type of formal drought action or management plans, with varying emphases on mitigation, response, and delegating drought planning to local entities.
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From page 140... ...
The Colorado River water supply-and-demand dynamic was changing rapidly and led to an interesting paradox as drought conditions deepened in the early 2000s. For example, at that time there were still concerns over how the basin states might share "surplus" waters in Colorado River reservoirs and, in January 2001, then-Secretary of the Interior Babbitt approved a set of rules known as Interim Surplus Guidelines (Garrick and Jacobs, 2006)
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From page 141... ...
The drought prompted the basin states to request the Secretary of the Interior to operate Lake Powell and Lake Mead differently; namely, the upper basin states requested that Lake Powell releases be reduced from the traditional minimum of 8.23 million acre-feet per year if the drought continued. The Secretary countered, challenging the basin states "to work together and present to her an alternative acceptable to all seven states for her to include in the EIS she had instructed the Bureau of Reclamation to prepare" (Anderson, 2006)
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From page 142... ...
. Although there have been many innovative urban water conservation programs and strategies across the Colorado River region in the past decade, no organization or program formally documents or otherwise coordinates these various urban water conservation measures, regional water forecasting techniques, or drought planning strategies.
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From page 143... ...
Most of NDMC's services are directed to state, federal, regional, and tribal governments that are involved in drought and water supply planning. Its primary activities include maintaining an information clearinghouse and drought portal; drought monitoring, including participation in the preparation of the U.S.
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From page 144... ...
The Colorado River Water Users Association (CRWUA) was established to enhance personal relations and communications among water agencies from the seven Colorado River basin states (see also http://www.crwua.org/)
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From page 145... ...
Studies and Workshops on Drought, Climate Change, and Urban Water Management The issues of drought monitoring, preparedness, impacts, and response are frequent topics at workshops and meetings, with a variety of sponsors and participants, across the western United States. The interest surrounding drought impacts in the western United States and Colorado River basin is not new (Box 5-1, for example, describes a major drought study conducted in the early and mid-1990s)
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From page 146... ...
There have also been few studies aimed at broad comparisons of urban water management across the entire Colorado River basin (the 2003 study from Western Resource Advocates represents an exception)
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From page 147... ...
A systematic project or study to document and synthesize urban water use strategies from across the region would be a useful reference for municipalities in the Colorado River region, could further encourage interstate cooperation on drought planning, and could provide useful information to other parts of the nation that are experiencing increased water demands and are challenged to meet water demands during periods of drought -- especially since it is increasingly appreciated that drought and water shortages are not limited to the arid western states. COMMENTARY The drought of the early 2000s placed heavy demands on the Colorado River basin storage system.
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From page 148... ...
Many conferences and workshops on drought and water availability were convened and several federal-level initiatives -- such as the 2000 report from the National Drought Policy Commission, and support for development of NIDIS -- point to a greater emphasis on drought preparedness and communication among climate scientists and the water management community. Lines of communication that were opened and strengthened among the climate science community and Colorado River water managers during the early 2000s drought represented a welcome development.
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From page 149... ...
Environmental concerns caused a shift in Colorado River management priorities beginning in the 1970s, and marked increases in urban population growth and water demands over the past two decades have made urban water supplies a much higher priority than in an earlier era of Colorado River development. Sharp population growth in nearly every urban area served by Colorado River water has caused municipal water managers to think broadly and creatively about efficient water management and ways to limit per capita water uses.
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From page 150... ...
. The study could be conducted by the Colorado River basin states, a U.S.
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