Secretary Ken Salazar's Climate Change Report Warns Of Water Decline

The Colorado, San Joaquin and Rio Grande river basins may see a decrease by eight to fourteen percent over the next 40 years, according to a report released by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Meant to assess the risks of climate change, the report noted that fluctuations in temperature and precipitation are expected to cause significant changes in the future. Among the projections are temperature increases between 5 and 7 degrees Fahrenheit, and a decrease in snowpack.

Secretary Salazar said the report is meant to provide the starting blocks for strategies geared toward sustainable water resource management.

“Water is the lifeblood of our communities, rural and urban economies, and our environment, and small changes in water supplies or the timing of precipitation can have a big impact on all of us," Secretary Salazar said.

The Associated Press reports that declining water supplies in the West and Southwest are already stressed due to population increases.

Other than Colorado, six states and Mexico depend on the Colorado River for water supply.

Comments

[1differentdrummer]

05:55 AM on 04/27/2011

Supplies of drinkable water are not infinite. Population, to survive, can't be. We don't need more people.

[sachazg]

01:12 AM on 04/26/2011

I live on one of the tributaries to the Colorado river, and I can tell you that levels are low and get lower every year. Phoenix, Vegas, LA you should be working on plans for the inevitable, you will not have water much longer.

[billybob72]

09:49 PM on 04/25/2011

Responding to michaelkeown: No, Salazar is just being prudent and conservative in planning ahead for more people and less water in the CO River basin. From what I read Northern CO snowpack in 2011 is above average, but southern is below. Higher variability of snowpack/precip seems to be the new normal, and weather extremes of all sorts are part of the predictions due to climate change. Also the time of year of the snowmelt and the speed of the snowmelt appear to be changing. Even dust on top of snow has been found as a factor causing earlier and more rapid snowmelt. Origin of the increased dust is probably due to human disruption of soils in upwind areas of CO mountains. At any rate, the Colorado River basin water supply is "oversubscribed" even if the amount of water doesn't decline. And the long term trend shows a decline from the years when water use from the river was first planned. It may be that what appeared to be normal in the 1930s to 60s was actually a wet period rather than average.

[Peter Bockenthien]

08:09 PM on 04/25/2011

To say nothing about how much water fracking consumes.

[librainstars]

09:59 AM on 04/26/2011

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/15/methane-water-radioactive-cows-fracking-pa_n_849893.html
a story from the HP on fracking in co.

[michaelkeown]

06:56 PM on 04/25/2011

Did he check to see that the snow pack is above average again? What a joke.

[1differentdrummer]

06:00 AM on 04/27/2011

Isn't there a difference between weather and climate? Where was the the snowpack above average, in which drainage? When did the melt start?

[Mary Blickhahn]

11:52 AM on 05/01/2011

It is and this is a great sign. But our underground resources are still depleted. Plus we do not own all our water. We are a head waters state and most of it has been bought by the states further down stream, so their demand is met first. We get in trouble for having our rivers looking full for a couple hours of photo shooting. What this means is our water needs and demands are ignored.
We are also not doing enough to replenish our underground reserves. This is both stupid and dangerous. Then add the problems of not doing enough to keep the water cycle going. So much water has to be within distance of the hills and mountains for wind currents to be wet enough to deposit snow at higher elevations. We have been doing better, but we have a long way to go. The lower mountains and hills and prairies are still too dry, and so we have too many fires.