Arizona seeks ways to prop up Lake Mead, pending federal cash
Mitch Basefsky from Central Arizona Project talked to the Pinal Partnership Water Resources Committee in November about Colorado River shortages and conservation. There’s a 50% chance there will be a tier 1 shortage declared (with no additional conservation efforts) in 2017 which happens when the water level is below 1,075 feet. There are recovery plans in place.
Plans could delay cuts in Colorado Supply, though advocates say longer-term adaptation still needed.
Arizona is closing in on a set of water conservation deals that leaders hope will prop up storage in Lake Mead, and forestall painful and chaotic shortages for at least a few years.
Federal water managers project a strong possibility — roughly 50-50 — that water levels in Lake Mead would drop enough in the next year or so to trigger a shortage that would curtail Arizona’s take of the Colorado River through the Central Arizona Project aqueduct. The state draws about 40 percent of its water from the river.
A deep winter snowpack like what’s begun building in the Rocky Mountains this year could delay the cuts, but experts agree the system is essentially overdrawn and bold action is necessary soon regardless of weather.
Related article: Study: Lake Mead Shortage Could Slow Home Construction, Agriculture
