RetroFedU.S. Raises Threat of Steep Water Cuts in Lower Colorado River Basin
submitted by
CharlesDarwinhttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/climate/colorado-river-basin-water-cuts.html
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Haven’t these folks had something like 70 years to unfuck this situation?
I worked for a company that did the hydrographic surveying for the Colorado River. You can literally see how empty it is and it’s straight up negligence that let it get this bad. We surveyed the entire Colorado river south of Lake Powell over the span of 2 years and they’ve done fuck all with it.
If my memory is correct the water usage agreement predates statehood for most of those states. The problem was discovered in the late 40’s and negotiations started sometime in the 50’s and they still don’t have an agreement.
Does that seem about right?
There were earlier agreements, but the Colorado River Compact was negotiated in 1922, after all 7 signatory states had been admitted to the union. They’ve pretty much been arguing about it and re-litigating it ever since, but as I understand it the main problem was that the rainfall estimates they used when drafting it were way too high. It just happened to be during an exceptionally wet time period that they took their measurements, and so they allocated water that never did come. And, yeah, they’ve known this for a long time.
I was at lake Powell 3 years ago and I cried my eyes out. I used to swim in it as a kid, it was my favorite. I imagine it’s even worse now :(
Aliens watching earth be all like:
Well, now I have to write all of this off as “fake news” because climate change/global warming is obviously just a Chinese hoax. Even if I can see the lower water levels with my own eyes….
We still letting the Saudi’s grow alfalfa in the desert for their race horses?