Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Southwest and Water: 'Day of Reckoning'
This came as no surprise to most of the people who live in reality in the Southwest, but perhaps it did to other people who read this New York Times article yesterday:
A once-unthinkable day is looming on the Colorado River.For the first time, federal estimates issued in August indicate that Lake Mead, the heart of the lower Colorado basin’s water system — irrigating lettuce, onions and wheat in reclaimed corners of the Sonoran Desert, and lawns and golf courses from Las Vegas to Los Angeles — could drop below a crucial demarcation line of 1,075 feet.
If it does, that will set in motion a temporary distribution plan approved in 2007 by the seven states with claims to the river and by the federal Bureau of Reclamation, and water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada would be reduced.
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