Diary of a Mad Voter: Joan McCarter

Planning for a Dry Future

By Joan McCarter, 12-11-07

Former Montana Congressman Pat Williams, writing an op-ed in the Albuquerqui Tribune puts his finger on the major disappointment that was the supposed Western issues Democratic debate in Nevada last month.

As always, smart journalists found it easy to prod the candidates toward accusation, all the while ignoring the one issue over which Westerners are always ready to fight. That issue is, of course, water.

In the current national political atmosphere, we’re getting much more heat than light, courtesy the traditional media. Unfortunately, the campaigns seem all too anxious to give them fodder for that heat (Obama’s kindergarten ambitions?). Outside of the national horserace tunnel vision, though, real policy is being made. And it’s being made on that issue that Westerners have been fighting over.

The Colorado River Water Users Association is meeting in Las Vegas this week, and on the agenda is a very forward-looking discussion on the regional impacts of climate change. They’re going into that discussion with a draft plan to address drought that all seven states--Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming--are expected to ratify.

Drought has drained [Lake Powell and Lake Mead] to below half capacity, increasing the threat of water shortages upstream and in Arizona, along with the loss of cheap hydropower and damage to riparian habitat and recreation sites. With that much at risk, some of the states were prepared to fight costly legal battles. The drought plan can’t keep the lakes from shrinking further if dry conditions persist and could trigger the first shortage as early as 2010. But by focusing on the reservoirs and the way they help manage the river’s limited supply, the states hope to protect users from the worst effects of drought....

“This won’t eliminate the risk of shortage, but it prolongs the period of time before we experience one,” said Sid Wilson, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, which delivers Colorado River water to Phoenix and Tucson. “None of us doubt that drought is a more ominous threat than we ever realized.”

One could argue that having the two critical reservoirs at half capacity signals shortage, but it seems that even water planners aren’t going to see that until the taps actually dry up, an eventuality that this plan might actually help avoid. The heart of the plan is to tie management of the two reservoirs together. Previously, Lake Powell, which was built to benefit Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, was governed separately from Lake Mead, which stores water flowing from Lake Powell for Arizona, California and Nevada.

If water levels at Powell drop too low, upstream users would face cutbacks. Hydropower generation would decline. Recreation venues would close. As Lake Mead shrinks, so would Arizona’s CAP supply, cutting off farmers in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties until water levels rise again.

The plan is a good start, but any management plan for the region has to take into account the very real possibility that we’ll never see “normal” water levels in our lakes, rivers, and aquifers again. This is definitely a situation in which worst-case scenario planning needs to be implemented. To that end, the think tank Western Progress released a policy brief yesterday to help the CRWUA start thinking ahead.

The brief urges policy makers to consider coordinating beyond this draft agreement, to create strategies that:

Make the best possible use of developed water: Vast quantities of “new” water would be available to meet projected demands through a variety of conservation and efficiency measures. We should require that new developments incorporate stringent conservation measures, provide incentives for conservation among existing customers, and expand opportunities to re-use water;

Do no harm in seeking new water: Moving water over long distances is expensive and consumes a great deal of energy. We should take full account of the impacts of proposed water supply projects, ensuring that they are not exacerbating the impacts of climate change and thus creating more shortages in the future.

Preserve options for future generations: Short-sighted development can foreclose important economic opportunities by dewatering streams and depleting finite groundwater resources. We should ensure that today’s water supply strategies protect the living rivers that sustain western communities, and avoid measures that deplete finite groundwater resources—our “reservoirs of hope.”

These are solutions that would help keep solutions for the West’s resource challenges in the West and hopefully out of the courts. Regional planners need look no further than Idaho and its ongoing legal battle pitting ground and surface water users against each other. Trying to balance the economic interests of agriculture, fish farmers, and booming population centers in the courts counts as one of those worst-case scenarios the rest of the region should be trying to avoid at all costs. Taking climate change and the likelihood of a permanent drought seriously has to be the beginning of planning. And planning has to start now.

Drought isn’t just a Western issue any more, just a gander at the drought monitor map shows how much of the nation, from the southeast to the Great Lakes to Hawaii, is drying up. The West can lead the way for the rest of the nation in creating a template for solving the problem.

That would be worth a little attention from our presidential candidates.

Editor’s note: Joan McCarter’s weekly blogs are part of NewWest.Net/Politics’ “Diary of a Mad Voter” feature, a group blog, published in partnership with the Denver Post’s Politics West intended give a glimpse into the hearts and minds of several independent-minded voters and thinkers in the Rocky Mountain West in the ‘08 election cycle. For more columns check in with www.newwest.net/madvoter. And for more information on each of the bloggers, click here.

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