New York investors snapping up Colorado River water rights - Reddit Investor interest in the river could redefine century-old rules for who controls one of the most valuable economic resources in the United States. Built in the 1980s, Pueblo West was growing too fast to keep up with its water needs, so it bought the ranch and its rights. How dry is the Colorado River Basin? We explain it in 5 numbers That lettuce will be in grocery stores by mid-November. Mr. But those who deal closely with water will tell you this is false. And with the worst drought in 1,500 years parching the region, water anxiety is at an all-time high. In reality, nobody really expects cities to get cut off completely. The way the markets were set up left them open to being gamed.. Reclamation water managers responded with plans to hold back more water in Lake Powell but warned that Lake Mead water levels would drop. A few years ago a firm called Greenstone, a subsidiary of a subsidiary of the financial-services conglomerate MassMutual, quietly bought the rights to most of Cibolas water. Updated: Apr 26, 2023 / 01:55 PM PDT. John Hernandez, a Mexican-American activist, says that there's also a question of fairness if most of the money that the irrigation district gets for using less water potentially hundreds of millions of dollars each year gets passed out to just a few hundred farms. Key Colorado River reservoirs unlikely to refill in our lifetimes - Los 5 Major Consumers of Water That Might Surprise You Researchers at the New Mexico State University Agricultural Science Center in Farmington, N.M., works with . Light shines off the water flowing in a section of the Central Arizona Project on Oct . Felt said, The water came off the land and it dried up, a common process known as buy and dry. Pueblo West, which was supposed to revegetate with native shortgrass, instead subdivided it into 40-acre parcels. "Something will have to give," said Sharon Megdal, director of the University of Arizona's Water Resources Research Center. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post) For the second time in six months, states that depend on the Colorado River to sustain their farms and cities have failed to reach . See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. Best States is an interactive platform developed by U.S. News for ranking the 50 U.S. states, alongside news analysis and daily reporting. But from the perspective of other states even those cuts wouldnt be nearly enough. Under existing Colorado River agreements, that condition means starting next year, Nevada will have its water allotment cut by 25,000 acre-feet (8 percent). Construction of the original canal was marked by epic engineering failure. In the last few years, a new force has emerged: From the Western Slope of the Rockies to Southern California, a proliferation of private investors like Greenstone have descended upon isolated communities, scouring the driest terrain in the United States to buy coveted water rights. The water fight over the shrinking Colorado River - BBC News Associated Press journalists Brittany Peterson in Denver, Sam Metz in Salt Lake City and Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this report. Last month, 30 agencies that supply water to homes and businesses throughout the region joined the Las Vegas area in restricting the planting of decorative lawns that no one walks on. Once criticized for being a profligate user of water, fast-growing Phoenix has taken some major steps including banking water in underground reservoirs, slashing per-capita use, and recycling wastewater in anticipation of the day when the flow from the Colorado River ends. In 2006, Pueblo West agreed to irrigate and revive the land. Private investors would like to bring in or amplify existing elements of Wall Street for the water industry, such as futures markets and trading that occurs in milliseconds. At which point, if private entities like WAM had stores of water in Lake Powell ready to sell, they would suddenly be worth quite a bit more. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Increasingly, the river is threatened by drought, with flows down 20 percent over the last 20 years. As investor interest mounts, leaders of Southwestern states are gathering this month to decide the future of the Colorado River. By the summer, the process is expected to clarify the federal governments legal authority to make unilateral cuts to states water allotments. The dry period has lasted more than two decades, draining the major reservoirs along the river. Sarah Porter, who's director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, says the Imperial Irrigation District is now at the center of these negotiations. The top 5 states are Mississippi, Missouri,. Imperial County is already one of the poorest in California. Throughout the river basin, warnings have increased and measures have tightened markedly in 2022. If states, cities, big farms and utilities were able to buy water freely, especially across state lines, the allocations of the compact could be obviated and the governmental power to manage the fate of the river eroded. Before above-average snows in recent weeks, the Bureau of Reclamation was projecting that Lake Powell could start to reach such thresholds by this summer. The price of the longer outing includes lunch. As WAMs Mr. Diserio likes to say, When you need water, water is the only thing that will do.. Plus, A Surprising Number Of Food And Beverage Classes In Boulder County. The markets have become a paradise for arbitrage. He compared the dynamic to California in the 1990s, where fires and outages were beneficial for traders because of price spikes and you saw Enron traders cheering on fires.. Dan Charles for NPR We went harder and faster than anyone and let the market rip, said Stuart Kells, a professor at La Trobe Business School in Melbourne. In Colorado, when we look up at the rocky mountains, its difficult to imagine how much those snowy white peaks mean to the rest of the world. But Colorado River and reservoir management was designed during a much wetter period. Without the river and its load of nutrients, marine productivity in the Gulf of California where the Colorado River once ended has fallen by up to 95 percent. What has happened in Australia should be a cautionary tale for America, Mr. Kells said. FILE - A buoy sits high and dry on cracked earth previously under the waters of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Boulder City, Nev., on June 28, 2022. hide caption. Udall's projections for the Colorado River aren't a certainty, but if climate, drought and water conditions continue as expected over the next five years, the amount of water delivered from . But that flow of water is now in question, because the Colorado River doesn't have enough water for everyone. There is a myth about water in the Western United States, which is that there is not enough of it. Dan Charles for NPR Marc Catlin, a third-generation farmer who represents western Colorado in the General Assembly, said, A farmers property is their 401(k).. It lies below sea level, allowing water from the Colorado River to flow there by gravity alone. Demand for Colorado River water picked up in the late 1990s and early 2000s. "The droughts that we are seeing are becoming that much more severe because of the temperature component, they're warmer," Bolinger said. Is that something that can change? One of the things I think weve learned over time is that a resource like water is best allocated through kind of a combination of market forces and regulatory oversight., He added, The market would say water is far more valuable serving urban populations.. A water conservation deal is in the works. Lower Colorado River Authority - Wikipedia The platform is designed to engage citizens and government leaders in a discussion about what needs improvement across the country.
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