Exploring the Drought: A Road Trip with Writer Rob Schultheis
Last summer, on assignment for Alta Magazine, I joined writer Rob Schultheis on a road trip to document the unfolding effects of a record breaking 20-year drought on up to 40 million people who depend on water from the Colorado River. From what we saw - and what Rob discovered in his research - is that with inexorable climate change, the future looks bleak - a possible repeat of the last drought of this magnitude that wiped out the ancient cliff-dwelling Anasazi culture 600 years ago.
We began our journey in Durango, Colorado, and drove west through the Navajo Reservation, past Lakes Powell and Mead and on to Las Vegas, a route that enabled me to get just a snapshot of what is unfolding.
Water Levels in Lake Mead are so low - and dropping dramatically - that soon there will not be enough to generate electricity
So far the most dramatic effects of the drought have largely been hidden and postponed by the dams holding back massive reservoirs of stored water in Lakes Powell and Mead. Even as the upstream Colorado River has been shrinking to a trickle compared to its previous flow, there’s been enough water in them to keep the taps flowing and lawns watered in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles and - in far greater quantities - alfalfa and other crops growing in California’s arid Imperial Valley and other desert expanses not really suited for agriculture.
Both Rob and I had visited both lakes in times of high water and were awestruck by how much they had dropped, leaving behind “bathtub rings” showing how close to empty they are becoming. Lake Powell is 170 feet below its full high water mark in the year 2,000 and Lake Mead is even lower . Both are perilously close to levels that their dams can no longer generate electricity and, worse, “deadpool” status, when there is no water flowing under them at all.
So far, no one has found a solution and the major stakeholders - the cities, ranchers, Native American tribes and farmers downstream - have yet to agree on how to cut enough that everyone can eke by. Until now negotiations have been left to the seven states that depend on the rivers but each has its own dire reasons why the others should take the cuts.
The situation is bad enough that in June, 2022 the U.S. Department of Interior, which actually manages the flow, gave the States 60 days to reach an agreement. They missed it, triggering an extension an extension to January 1, 2023 (two days after I am writing this) to come up with a plan before the Biden administration would make the decisions itself. No matter what the outcome, though, any solutions are destined to be mired in the courts for years - a legal and environmental challenge like the nation has ever seen before. And in the meantime, some taps may soon be pouring only dust.
Here’s a link to the story and pictures in Alta:
For further background, here is a fascinating recent analysis by the New York Times.
