The megadrought that’s gripped Arizona and the Southwest since 2000 is the driest in more than 1,200 years, and it is likely to continue for the near future, and historic low water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell have triggered the state’s drought contingency plan.... Read more»
Experts in government, agriculture, water management and the environment stressed during a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday the danger that droughts fueled by climate change pose in the West, including the Colorado River Basin. ... Read more»
New projections from a Bureau of Reclamation report released Thursday show that Lake Mead and Lake Powell could reach “critically low reservoir elevations” sooner than expected, spurring experts to say that “bold actions” will be needed to change course. ... Read more»
Hundreds of thousands of people have moved to the Phoenix area in recent years looking for affordable homes and sunshine, and home sales have increased by nearly 12 percent in 2020 due to the pandemic, but there's just one problem: The region doesn’t appear to have enough water for all the growth.... Read more»
Leaders from Reclamation, the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Central Arizona Project, which delivers much of the state’s share of the river to more than half its residents, offered a glimpse Thursday of where Arizona stands with the shortage looming.... Read more»
Tribal leaders urged House lawmakers Wednesday to support a handful of bills that would guarantee water to their tribes in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico and fund the water treatment plants and pipelines to deliver it.... Read more»
Two weeks after water officials told Congress there was urgent need to approve the Colorado River drought contingency plan, the House and Senate both passed a plan Monday and sent it to the president’s desk.... Read more»
The director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources told a U.S. Senate panel Wednesday there is an “urgent need” to authorize a multistate drought contingency plan for the Colorado River basin.... Read more»
Arizona lawmakers have agreed to the broad terms of a deal Gov. Doug Ducey helped negotiate but resource managers at California's largest lake remains are demanding $200 million before signing off on the deal... Read more»
Negotiations on a drought plan for Arizona took a step forward Thursday when the head of the state water department said Gov. Doug Ducey will ask for $30 million in his upcoming budget proposal to help make the Drought Contingency Plan a reality.... Read more»
States, federal and Mexican officials hailed a binational agreement this fall that they said could lead to a radical shift in how the region prepares for and responds to drought.... Read more»
Arizona’s top water official told a congressional committee that even though the state has done a lot right, years of drought still threaten to push the region into a water emergency in the next few years.... Read more»1
Arizona risks losing water rights because of a lingering, nearly two-decade long drought in the Colorado River that could restrict water use ranging from farmers’ crops to how many households receive water, state water experts say.... Read more»
There are many factors behind declining Colorado River flows, but climate change plays a larger part than previously thought and the threat will continue to grow if global warming is not addressed, a recent report says.... Read more»
Parts of Arizona could experience as many as 140 days of temperatures above 100 degrees per year within 20 years, according to a climate change model from the EPA. Despite that, state agencies say they are confident that the state has been careful in its water use, and communities and water utilities have developed responses to changing climates for years.... Read more»
Arizona officials said Tuesday it is time to end the “gentleman’s agreement” currently governing states’ use of water from Lake Mead and instead put tougher restrictions into law.... Read more»
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