Feds may order first cuts in water from Colorado River; CU team issues warning to next president
Feds say Arizona, California and Nevada could face shortages starting in 2018.
A University of Colorado team led by a former Obama administration water chief has issued a water warning to the next president: the Colorado River cannot meet the current needs of 35 million westerners and cuts likely must be made.
The next president could be faced with ordering a first-ever reduction in water siphoned from the river by 333,000 acre feet next August, a report by the Colorado River Future Project contends. That’s an amount equivalent to the water used in 666,0000 homes.
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials on Tuesday confirmed the finding. Federal models show a 48 percent chance that, without cuts, lower basin states Arizona, California and Nevada would face shortages starting in 2018.
Read the full article from The Denver Post.
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