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Don’t Turn Off Your Water When You Brush Your Teeth? Colorado River Shortage

 

The Colorado River’s historic water shortage is affecting tribes, major cities, and industries in Central Arizona.

 

For thousands of years the Colorado has been a source to many, especially Indigenous groups, but now the river is drying up due to overuse and climate change.

 

As of 2023, the reservoir in the lower basin of the river, Lake Mead, has reached Tier 2a shortage. A Tier 2a shortage means the water level has dropped below 1,050 feet above sea level. This is a danger zone that makes the water system unstable to the point where it is difficult to raise the water levels in the reservoir.

 

Lake Mead is 30 miles east of Las Vegas and due to this drop in water levels, there will be an estimated 592,000 acre-foot reduction to Arizona’s Colorado River supply. One acre-foot is roughly 326,000 gallons of water and is able to cover a football field, one foot deep.

 

So if 592,000 acre-feet of water disappears from Arizona’s supply of the Colorado will decrease to just under 193 billion gallons.

 

Reservoirs from the Colorado, like Lake Mead and Lake Powell, are approaching what is known as a dead pool. A dead pool occurs when water is extremely low and it can no longer flow downstream, which means no more water can be salvaged from the reservoir.

 

Director Sarah Porter of the Kyl Center for Water Policy explains that if these reservoirs were to hit dead pool it would be “catastrophic and disruptive” for many communities, not just Arizona.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to the Central Arizona Project, the 592,000 acre-foot reduction will result in a loss of “34% of Central Arizona Project’s normal supply in an average year, 21% of Arizona’s Colorado River supply and about 9% of Arizona’s total water use.”

 

The Central Arizona Project, or CAP, was created by the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968, which allowed for the construction of water development projects in the lower and upper basins of the river.

 

The CAP supplies municipal water for Arizona communities, such as Phoenix and Tucson, and one million acres of Native American land across Pinal, Pima, and Maricopa counties.

 

More than 80% of Arizona's population is supplied with water through the CAP. This means about 6 million people will feel the effects of these water reductions in Arizona.

 

The cause for the low water levels in the lower basin of the river is due to the ongoing megadrought and overuse of the river itself. The megadrought is going on its 24th year due to a lack of precipitation.

It is a direct result of climate change as the Earth is warming from fossil fuels, according to an overwhelming majority of the climate scientists who studied global warming.

 

Overuse of the Colorado is due to water being drawn from three states since the 1990s that use water from the lower basin: California, Nevada, and Arizona.

 

Even though the river has been slowly drying out for years that hasn’t stopped the states from taking more than the river could naturally flow.

 

“The only thing we have control of is how much we take out,” said Director Sarah Porter. “The only solution is to take less water out. That is the only thing we can do.”

 

Water conservation is needed, it was needed years ago but here we are. Too much water from the river is and has been taken out for the river to continue a sustainable natural flow. Now, due to reduced water levels means more sediment is collected in the water resulting in lower-quality water.

 

“Long before you run out of water, water quality becomes an issue,” said Assistant Professor Taylor Weiss, a senior global futures scientist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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With these low levels of water, the Colorado River’s lower basin is experiencing it can become insufficient to drink for health and safety reasons. Slower water flow and warmer temperatures can cause “algal growth and outgrowth of bacterial growth which can lead to toxic blooms,” Weiss said.

 

Because the Arizona government has waited too long to find other solutions or water sources, the only thing that can be done to ensure the river does not hit dead pool is to conserve more water. Low-grade water waste conservation such as turning off the water when you brush your teeth or making sure you do not have a leaky sprinkler system can help, but it will never be able to revert the water loss the Colorado River has experienced.

 

Agriculture accounts for 80% of the Colorado River water served by the CAP in Arizona according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, so water conservation must come from that industry to make a difference.

 

Dilan Evans, the president of the Society of Water and Environmental Leaders, explains educating citizens about what is happening to the Colorado is what will drive change. The reservoirs may never fill up in our lifetime or the next, attribution. Not science, not another five-year plan will help; policy and lawmakers must take action.

 

The only thing Arizona communities using the Colorado River water is pushing for change and better regulations. So keep the tap running while you brush your teeth?