Historic Avg. Of Lake Powell Inflow June 14th: 41,282 cfs; June 13 2018: 8,638

[hatrack]

2018 Water Year inflows 53.46% of 2017; current river inflows at 29.38% of June 14th historic average.

http://lakepowell.water-data.com/

[packman]

1. Vegas has got to be concerned about this

All that desert - Where's the solar energy to supplement the hydro power from Hoover Dam? Seems people are being short-sighted out there.

[hatrack]

2. Shortage declaration & cutbacks go into place when Mead is at 1075' on January 1st

As of June 13th, it was at 1078.5, so 2019 looks like the year, unless they release a LOT of water from Powell.

Incidentally, Mead at first full pool contained about 32 million acre-feet. It currently holds 9.88 million acre feet, so it's less than one third of its original capacity, and about 38% of its current capacity.

http://lakemead.water-data.com/

EDIT

The Bureau of Reclamation makes the official water shortage declaration for the coming year in the month of August. Their determination of a shortage is determined by their forecast of whether the lake level on January 1st of the coming year will be above or below the 1075 foot level.

A number of agreements collectively referred to as “The Law of the River” govern how the River’s water supply is allocated. In addition, a 2007 “Shortage Sharing Agreement” determined how the lower basin states would share Colorado River water in the event of a shortage. Because some of Arizona’s Colorado River water users have a low priority in the allocation system, Arizona will face the largest water reduction.

Water reductions will have the greatest impact on the Central Arizona Project, which holds the lowest priority water entitlement among the lower basin states. The Central Arizona Project brings Colorado River water to the cities of Phoenix and Tucson. Arizona will see a 20% reduction in its Central Arizona Project supply, equivalent to an 11% reduction in the state’s total Colorado River supply. By comparison, Nevada would experience a 4% reduction in its Colorado River water supply allotment and Mexico a 3% reduction. California would not experience any reduction because it has higher priority status in the water sharing agreement. As water levels in Lake Mead continue to fall, additional reductions will be triggered (Tiers 2 and 3), with Arizona shouldering a 17% reduction when the water level in Lake Mead hits 1025 feet (Tier 3).

The Central Arizona Project supplies water not only to Phoenix and Tucson, but also to central Arizona farmers, as well as industrial and tribal water users. The Tier 1 shortage will reduce water to the Central Arizona Project by 320,000 acre-feet (enough water to supply 1.2 million individuals for a year). These reductions will affect farmers first. A Tier 3 shortage, if triggered, would mean a reduction of 480,000 acre-feet and would also impact Central Arizona Project municipal and industrial water users.

EDIT

https://westernresourceadvocates.org/projects/arizona-colorado-river-shortage/

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Going to be one interesting Summer here

in Vegas. Sad to say,Arizona seems to be the trouble spot. Pumping water to Phoenix just to have a running river,not smart. Think about it. One of the main reasons there are Power Stations in Page AZ is to generate power for all the water Pumps as well as a railroad to haul coal for the Power Plants.

By the way. Vegetable and fruit growers in southwest Arizona have switched to Alfalfa which takes tons of water,only to have this Hay shipped to Japan and China.