After watching billions of gallons of rainwater wash away into the Pacific, California is taking advantage of extreme weather with a new approach: Let it settle back into the earth for use another day. As the latest batch of storms lashed the Golden State, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order this week to
Photo: A shot of Lake Mead from August 2022 shows how far water levels have fallen as the result of a historic decades-long drought. (Photo by Christopher Clark/Bureau of Reclamation) With water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead at record lows, federal officials are ready to spend tens of millions of dollars to get farmers
Photo: The federal government has historically stayed out of Colorado River negotiations but has expanded its role in recent years to protect its dams and reservoirs, such as Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell, which has recently fallen to historic lows. (Photo by Alex Hager/KUNC) Senators from the seven Western states in the Colorado River basin
Photo: Flaming Gorge Reservoir in a June 2021 photo. The federal government has halted releases that were aimed at propping up Lake Powell downstream, as heavier than normal precipitation this winter has helped recharge the Colorado River watershed. (Photo by Ted Wood/The Water Desk). The federal government has halted releases from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir
California released a plan Tuesday detailing how Western states reliant on the Colorado River should save more water. It came a day after the six other states in the river basin made a competing proposal. In a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, California described how states could conserve between 1 million and nearly
The West has been slammed by wet weather this winter: An “atmospheric river” has pummeled California with weeks of heavy rain and the Rocky Mountains are getting buried with snow. That’s good news for the Colorado River, where all that moisture hints at a possible springtime boost for the reservoirs that have been crippled by drought. Climate
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