Page 48 - River Compact News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Interstate water disputes are as American as apple pie. States often think a neighboring state is using more than its fair share from a river, lake or aquifer that crosses borders. Climate stresses are raising the stakes. Rising temperatures require farmers to use more water to grow the same amount of crops. Prolonged and severe droughts decrease available supplies. Wildfires are burning hotter and lasting longer. Fires bake the soil, reducing forests’ ability to hold water, increasing evaporation from barren land and compromising water supplies. As a longtime observer of interstate water ...

What do Colorado’s Front Range and the Californian coast have in common? They’re both fed by the Colorado River, one of the country’s most massive waterways. Despite its size, the river and its reservoirs have reached perilously low water levels due to increased use and the impacts of climate change. This week, Science Moab speaks with Brian Richter, the president of the organization Sustainable Waters, about the hazards of such limited water and how the Southwest is responding. Science Moab: Where does Colorado River water come from and who’s using it? Richter: More than ...

Southern California farmers spend their winters watching the snowpack in the Colorado Rockies, and what they see is the climate crisis hitting hard. When it melts, the snow that falls on these peaks will, eventually, make its way into the Colorado River, which connects the Southwest like a great tendon, tying the Continental Divide in Colorado to Southern California’s hayfields, where the Imperial Irrigation District is one of the country’s largest, and pouring from the faucets of urban users in Los Angeles and San Diego. From California’s perspective, the view upriver is not encouragi...

Here are some significant environmental and regulatory rulings and administrative actions from December 2020. THE U.S. SUPREME COURT Texas v. New Mexico On December 14, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a water rights controversy involving sharing the water of the Pecos River. The 1949 Pecos River Compact provides for the equitable apportionment of the use of the Pecos River’s water by New Mexico and Texas, and a “River Master’s Manual,” approved by the Court in 1988, implements the Compact. These are very dry areas, and access to this water is very important. In 2014, a rare tropi...

After two months without any significant moisture here on the Westside, it was nice to wake up one day last week and see 3 or 4 inches of snow. The dogs cavorted happily, the neighborhood seemed magical and I hoped that the sun would melt it away so that I wouldn’t have to shovel the sidewalk. I found myself thinking about water, and what it means for the future of our state and city. Let’s start with the snow that fell on my yard, and maybe on yours as well. It’s only partially the gift of heaven to our desiccated landscapes, since much of it will run off, evaporate or seep in...