Colorado River Flows Drop By 15 Percent Over Last 100 Years
Warming temperatures are sapping the Colorado River, the water source for more than 40 million people in the southwest. A new study finds over the last 100 years the river’s flow has decreased by more than 15 percent.
Colorado State University researcher Brad Udall co-authored the study with UCLA scientists Mu Xiao and Dennis Lettenmaier. It’s published in the journal Water Resources Research. Some of Udall’s research is supported by the Walton Family Foundation, which also supports KUNC’s Colorado River coverage.
Warming temperatures throughout the Colorado River watershed accounted for more than half the decline in flows, Udall says. Other factors include changes to precipitation patterns and loss of snowpack in high altitudes.
“The impacts of temperature are very large on this river and if you believe temperatures are going to increase -- as every reputable scientist now does -- you then have to conclude that the future of the river is going to be a future with much less water in it,” Udall says.
http://www.kunc.org/post/colorado-river-flows-drop-15-percent-over-last-100-years#stream/0
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