An agreement has been reached with the Western states that rely on the Colorado River for water. Thedeal has the Federal government paying water users in California, Arizona, and Nevada to use less waterfor the next several years. As a result, the government will not have to make unilateral cuts to waterusage that had been …
This has been one of the wettest years for the Rocky Mountains since the drought began 23 years ago.The unprecedented snowfall reached 174% above median levels by mid-April. So far, the resultingsnowmelt has Lakes Powell and Mead at levels of 3,525 feet and 1,049 feet, respectively. The criticalthreshold is 3,490 for Lake Powell and 950 …
Read more “Finally…Rising Water Levels, but Cuts are Still Needed”
The US Bureau of Reclamation announced a $250 million water-saving initiative that is intended topreserve up to 10 feet of Lake Mead’s declining surface levels this year. This initiative is part of a $4billion drought-relief fund passed by the federal government last year. This money will pay the lowerColorado River basin users, especially farmers, to …
The deadline from the Interior Department came and went without an agreement by all seven states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) that depend on water from the diminishing Colorado River. The states were asked to come up with a plan to voluntarily reduce water usage by two to four million acre-feet, …
Read more “Not All the States Agree on Colorado River Restrictions“
The snow keeps falling! This is good news as the greater snow melt expected in the Spring can helpwater levels of the Colorado River. We won’t know the impact for a few months but, in the meantime,this snow accumulation means we must watch out for avalanches. We know that avalanche risk isserious and can harm …
Good news for Colorado; it has been snowing a lot this Winter! We all know that snow is a major factor in how the western states get their water. The timing for snow melt is very important. Both the later in the year and the faster it melts, the better. In this case, there will …
The Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) provides real-time data on water quantity, quality, and use to support systems required for daily water operations and decision-making during water crises. The headwaters of the Colorado and Gunnison River Basins provide an opportunity to apply NGWOS in a snowmelt-dominated system in the mountain west region. The US …
What are trails and greenways? Well, a trail is a path that can be used for walking, biking, horseback riding, or other forms of recreational transportation. A greenway is often a shared-use walkway that runs along a strip of undeveloped land in an urban or rural area that has been set aside for recreational or …
Trails are very important to protect natural landscapes, plants and animals. Trails connect populations and ecosystems for the growing species every day. USGS scientists are collaborating with a wide range of people to help the protection of trails. The effects of trampling native plants results in, soil erosion, poisoning water, limiting the food for wildlife, …
If you care about the environment, then you may know that the due date on the 60 day notice for states to cut water usage expired last week. Although there were some cuts made, it doesn’t look like it was nearly enough to stop the water reduction happening to the Colorado River. So, what will …