U.S.'s 2nd-biggest water reservoir to get a short-term fix amid Colorado River drought

Transcript

SCOTT DETROW, HOST:

The Colorado River is in a megadrought. After one of the driest winters in recorded history, the reservoirs that store its supply are approaching record low water levels. People from Wyoming to Southern California depend on this water, so federal officials are taking action. Alex Hager covers water for member station KJZZ in Phoenix and has more. Hey, Alex.

ALEX HAGER, BYLINE: Hey. It's good to be with you.

DETROW: So let's start with news from Lake Powell. What's going on there now?

HAGER: Yeah. The reservoir, which is in Utah and Arizona, it is only about 23% full. And after record low snow totals, that is not going to turn around naturally. I talked about this with Sarah Porter, who directs the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University.

SARAH PORTER: Forty million Americans rely, at least in part, on the Colorado River. And it is a system that just appears to be crashing in spite of all of our efforts.

HAGER: So federal officials are taking matters into their own hands here. They are taking a huge amount of water from a different reservoir upstream and sending it down to Powell. They are also ratcheting back the amount of water that gets sent out of Lake Powell into the Grand Canyon and towards cities like Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles. This move from the federal government, it has been done before, but it's basically an emergency backup plan for when things get really dry.

DETROW: Walk me through a little bit more why this big release of water is specifically needed right now.

HAGER: Yeah. Lake Powell is held back by this huge concrete dam, and if water levels drop much lower, parts of that dam could stop working. Falling water could force the shut-off of the big hydropower turbines that make electricity for about 5 million people, and that could make it harder to send water through the dam at all. That's drinking water for tens of millions of people in big cities. It's water that grows produce that ends up in grocery stores around the country. So that is why the focus is on making sure the reservoir just doesn't get too low in the first place.

DETROW: I mean, you're laying out what seems like a critical long-term problem, and I'm wondering, does this solve all those problems? Are these releases enough to keep the water flowing normally?

HAGER: They are for now, but there are some major hang-ups. The first one is just this is a short-term fix. The Colorado River is in a 26-year megadrought, and, you know, that upstream reservoir is not going to have extra supplies forever. I talked about it with Eric Balken. He directs the nonprofit Glen Canyon Institute and he follows Lake Powell water policy very closely.

ERIC BALKEN: This action that's being taken is a Band-Aid solution for a gaping wound because it's a short-term measure that does not get at the root of the problem, which is overconsumption of water.

HAGER: The seven states that use the river, they are deadlocked in heated negotiations about how exactly to bring down that consumption. Right now, they're split into two camps and each side is pointing fingers at the other about who should cut back on their use. So the group of upstream states is pushing back on this plan to move water from within their borders to try and solve the problem at Lake Powell.

DETROW: So that's the short-term fix. Tell me more about what the long-term fix is.

HAGER: Well, scientists say climate change is making the region hotter and drier, and the water is unlikely to come back in a significant way, so the states that use it must come up with a plan to use less. They are not doing that right now. If the states can't figure that out soon, the federal government could force new cutbacks on them, but that would likely lead to a battle in the Supreme Court. It would get really messy and it might not even do enough to keep the river flowing long-term. So all the pressure is on those seven states right now.

DETROW: That is Alex Hager at KJZZ in Phoenix. Thanks so much.

HAGER: Thanks for having me.

(SOUNDBITE OF SUMMER WALKER SONG, "FMT")