The federal government has given the city of Fresno an ultimatum: Either change the way you write your water bills, or risk losing a third of your water supply. A 1992 law forbids the federal government from renewing water contracts with central California cities, unless the cities bill residents based on how much water they […]
Water
Posted inMarch 17, 2003: Bracing against the tide
Dredging plans stall on the Snake River
By now, the dredging machinery would have been sucking 319,000 cubic yards of sand and silt from the bottom of the Snake River west of Lewiston, Idaho. Barges would be hauling the muck downriver and dumping it out of the way. Then tugboats would have dragged giant rakes across the spoils, trying to recreate habitat […]
Posted inWotr
Water principles of the West begin with blaming California
Like the rest of the West, Colorado suffers from a multi-year drought. Drought, in case you’re curious, is one of those technical terms for what happens when you have enough water for 1 million residents, but not enough for 4 million, let alone the 10 million that the developers would like to see. What might […]
Posted inWotr
Lake Powell: Going, going, gone?
Who would have believed it? Water levels at Lake Powell have dropped to 50 percent for the first time since it filled in 1980. This draining is likely to continue to the point where the reservoir could vanish in the next three-to-four years. With snowpacks below 25 percent of normal, and continued warnings from the […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 2003: Wyoming at a crossroads
Memories of a native river
The Columbia River today is tamed: Dams regulate water for farms and generate electricity. Rapids are a thing of the past. The wild salmon still left in the river have to be barged upstream to spawn. But, if you flip the pages of William D. Layman’s coffee-table book, Native River, and allow yourself to be […]
Posted inFebruary 17, 2003: Wyoming at a crossroads
It’s time for a new law of the river
On New Year’s Eve, the normally placid pumping station of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California at Lake Havasu felt tense. Armed security guards on the scene since 9/11 seemed grim, and tourists seeking bird-watching information were turned away. It recalled those old black-and-white pictures from when Owens Valley farmers blew up the original […]
Posted inFebruary 3, 2003: The death of the Super Hopper
Removing Dams – Rebuilding Rivers
In the early 1980s, a group of activists from a small New England town fought the restoration of the nation’s oldest hydroelectric dam, the Sewalls Falls Dam on the Merrimack River. That battle ended when an April 1984 freshet washed away one-third of the century-old structure. But the fight kicked off a new social and […]
Posted inWotr
The West’s cities should trump agriculture
On New Year’s Eve, the normally placid pumping station of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California at Lake Havasu felt tense. Armed security guards on the scene since 9/11 seemed grim, and tourists seeking bird-watching information were turned away. It recalled those old black-and-white pictures from when Owens Valley farmers blew up the original […]
Posted inJanuary 20, 2003: A breath of fresh air
California’s water binge skids to a halt
Interior Department cuts off state from ‘surplus’ Colorado River water
Posted inDecember 23, 2002: In search of the Glory Days
How to go with the flow
In 1996 and 1997, the Yellowstone River in Montana surged forth in back-to-back, record-breaking floods that caused millions of dollars in damage (HCN, 3/27/00: The last wild river). Floodplain landowners scrambled to secure their property in an epidemic of bank-stabilization measures. But many river scientists believe that stabilization measures actually exacerbate floods, and can accelerate […]
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Klamath water worth more in river
Klamath water worth more in river
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Fish and wildlife have rights, too
Fish and wildlife have rights, too
Posted inDecember 9, 2002: Life in the wasteland
Condit Dam removal hits snags
Sediment behind dam could trash salmon habitat downstream
Posted inNovember 25, 2002: Planning's poster child grows up
A Western water parable
By way of introduction, writer Robert Glennon recounts the tale of Ubar, “the fabled city of ancient Arabia known as ‘the Atlantis of the Sands.’ ” Sometime between 300 and 500 A.D., Ubar’s inhabitants drank dry the aquifer over which their city was built, and the town promptly collapsed into the emptied cavern below. That […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2002: Behind the gate
Corps stands behind status quo
Endangered shorebirds and fish will just have to wait for habitat-enhancing spring floods and summer ebbs on the Missouri River. Because of prolonged drought, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided in early October to postpone changes in how the river and its many dams are managed. The changes were recommended by the U.S. Fish […]
Posted inNovember 11, 2002: Behind the gate
Grand Canyon oases face faraway threats
Flagstaff, Tusayan may be tapping fragile desert springs
Posted inOctober 28, 2002: Shadow Creatures
Does dam breaching make cents?
For years, the Hells Canyon dams in Idaho have been the subject of intense debate: Should we breach them and restore the Snake River, or keep the dams and save the local economy? Now, two reports have come out, representing both sides of the issue. After more than 10 years of research, Idaho Power, which […]
Posted inOctober 28, 2002: Shadow Creatures
Jet Ski riders circle the wagons
Starting Nov. 6, watercraft will be banned from Lake Powell
Posted inOctober 14, 2002: Democrats kick back: The politics of growth
Native Waters
The era of the Indian land treaty ended more than a century ago, but now the West is in the midst of another treaty era – this time focused on water. So writes Daniel McCool, a longtime scholar of federal Indian policy and the head of the University of Utah’s American West Center, in his […]
Posted inOctober 14, 2002: Democrats kick back: The politics of growth
Albuquerque is dragged into Rio Grande fight
Mayor says judge stole water from the silvery minnow