New Federal Administration and What’s Next with the Colorado River Drought
Sixteen years of drought on the Colorado River, a key water supply for California, have increased the chance that Lake Mead will fall low enough to trigger a shortage declaration in the not-too-distant future. It seems a matter of when and not if. The reservoir now sits at 40 percent capacity and federal officials say there is a 48 percent chance of a shortage declaration in 2018.
Last year, representatives from the federal government, California and the other Lower Basin states, and Mexico came close to an interlinked, multi-party agreement on how to slow the reservoir’s decline to better prepare for a reduction in water supplies. They failed to finalize a drought contingency plan before the end of the Obama administration, leaving stakeholders wondering what will happen now.
Learn about the status of the discussions, the goals of the agreements and the potential next steps at our March 23 Executive Briefing during the “Lifeline of the Southwest: Working to Avoid a Colorado River Shortage” panel discussion. Confirmed panelists include:
- Chris Harris, Deputy Director, Colorado River Board of California
- Thomas Buschatzke, Director, Arizona Department of Water Resources
- Jayne Harkins. Executive Director, Colorado River Commission of Nevada
- Michael Cohen, Senior Research Associate, Pacific Institute
- Terry Fulp, Regional Director, Bureau of Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region
Other topics to be discussed at the briefing include the new California Open and Transparent Water Data Act, implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act and efforts to find new sources of water for the future.
This is the go-to conference for water district managers and board members, state and federal agency officials, city and county government officials, farmers, environmentalists, attorneys, consultants, engineers, business executives and public interest groups.
Registration for the event, “Wave of Change: Breaking the Status Quo,” is now open. Click here for more information.
And join us on the April 5-7 Lower Colorado River Tour to learn even more about this topic.
