Credit Luke Runyon/KUNC
Anyone who has hosted a good dinner party knows that the guest list, table setting and topic of conversation play a big role in determining whether the night is a hit or the guests leave angry and unsatisfied.
That concept is about to get a true test on the Colorado River, where chairs are being pulled up to a negotiating table to start a new round of talks that could define how the river system adapts to a changing climate for the next generation.
The decision of who gets to sit at that table, whose interests are represented, and what’s on the menu is still very much in flux. But the uncertainty isn’t stopping would-be participants from voicing concerns they feel leaders in the southwestern watershed can no longer ignore.
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The Colorado River flows into the All-American Canal below the Imperial Dam on the California-Arizona border.
Anyone who has hosted a good dinner party knows that the guest list, table setting and topic of conversation play a big role in determining whether the night is a hit or the guests leave angry and unsatisfied.
That concept is about to get a true test on the Colorado River, where chairs are being pulled up to a negotiating table to start a new round of talks that could define how the river system adapts to a changing climate for the next generation.
St. Mary Diversion, a remarkable success in a trying year
Courtesy photo
Construction crews work on Drop 5 of the St. Mary Diversion and Conveyance Works in August.
One of the more remarkable stories of the year is that of the St. Mary Diversion and it s 22-week-long repair after experiencing a catastrophic failure back in May. Nearly all involved with the effort called it a remarkable example of teamwork and inter-organizational cooperation in a year plagued by social isolation. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman said this project is an example to the nation of what they can do when they work together.
The new Biden administration could take action on the Colorado River that would go well beyond the president-elect’s term in office.
The week of Dec. 14, the seven states that are part of the Colorado River Compact began the first step for renegotiating guidelines that will decide how much water the three lower basin states and Mexico will get from Lake Mead, on the Arizona-Nevada border, and from Mead’s source, the Colorado River.
The guidelines are interim, signed in April 2007, and are due to expire in 2026. Among the most significant, the guidelines provide long-term stable management of the river and also determine the circumstances under which the Interior secretary could reduce the annual amount of water available from Lake Mead to the Colorado River lower basin states. The guidelines also are a way for the basin states to avoid litigation, part of what prompted the 2007 interim guidelines.
US: More must be done to protect Colorado River from drought azdailysun.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from azdailysun.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.