The Colorado River
tl;dr
the takeaway is that the Colorado River is facing an immediate crisis as evidenced by current storage capacity of Lake Powell and projected inflows from an all-time low snowpack combined with an all-time high temperatures.
Context
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Legally allocated in a complex fabric of political uses.
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Water users
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Agricultural value
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Municipal vs. Agricultural vs. other uses.
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The Delta
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Other concerns
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- Salinity
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- The Delta
Upper Colorado River Basin
Hydrology
Natural Tributaries
Historically wild and violent
Colorado River Storage Project Schematic
- Reservoirs
Climate
Snowpack
Temperature
Precipitation Efficiency
Soil Aridification
Water Usage
Trends
Location
Lake Powell
History
- Glen Canyon
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- Abbey and Dominy quotes
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- Brower vs. Dominy quotes
Features
- Storage vs Elevation Curve
Current
Forecast
Future
- Dominy Formation
- Returning Rapids
Glen Canyon Dam
Power Generation
Power Customers
Power Revenue
- the Glen Canyon Dam was a "cash register" dam that enabled the creation and justification for other projects in the basin.
Design Flaws
- Large dead pool volume
- Major operational questions of auxiliary outputs
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- Is Minimum Power Pool the effective dead pool?
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- What happens if the lake can't be drained? The Colorado runs dry?
Legal Landscape
Colorado River CompactColorado River Compact, November 24, 1922.
The Colorado River Compact divided the Colorado River watershed into two distinct divisions - the States of the Upper Division consisting of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming and the States of the Lower Division consisting of Arizona, California, and Nevada.
Article I