Glen Canyon Institute Roadshow presentation for KDNK

8/12/2019 Glen Canyon Institute Roadshow presentation for KDNK

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Glen Canyon

&The Colorado River

Glen Canyon Institutewww.glencanyon.org


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Water in the West

The Definitive Natural Resource


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John Wesley Powell

I wish to make clear to you...[that]

there is not enough water to irrigate

all the lands...[and] it is not right to

speak about the area of the public

domain in terms of acres that extend

over the land, but in terms of acres

that can be supplied with water.

-October 10th ,1893


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Prior Appropriations Doctrine

First in Time, First in Right Originated from mining claims in California

in 1860s

First person to put water to a beneficial

use has a right to it

Made a law in 1872


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Law of the River

The Colorado River Compact of 1922

7.5 Million Acre Feet (MAF) to the Upper

Basin

7.5 MAF to the Lower Basin

1944 Treaty

1.5 MAF to Mexico


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Law of the River

Boulder Canyon Protection Act (1928) Upper Colorado Compact (1948)

Colorado River Storage Project Act (1956)

Arizona vs. California (1963)

1968 Project Act (1968)

Long Range Operating Criteria (1970)

Grand Canyon Protection Act (1992)

Interim Guidelines (2007)

Minute 319 (2012)


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Law of the River

Structural Flaws

Assumed 16.4 Million Acre Feet (MAF) of

water in Colorado River

New tree ring data shows its closer to 13.5MAF

Average flow over the last 30 years has

been 11 MAF 2013 flow 9 MAF


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Completed in 1963

Glen Canyon Dam


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Dinosaur National Monument


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Glen Canyon


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The Birth of the Modern Environmental Movement


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Significant Negative Impacts:


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After

200 miles of the Colorado River through Glen Canyon drowned

Before


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Destruction of over 2,000 Native American

Cultural Sites


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Steady destruction of the

Grand Canyon


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False Sense of Water Security in the West


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Today Lake Powell isonly 39.5% full.


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Today

Lake Mead is only

48.3% full.


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Short of several back-to-

back years with 100+ year

runoff, Lake Powell willnever be full again.

-Dr. Tom Myers, hydrologist


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It is the new normal. And it is climate change. We are

living what the scientists (have said) for the last couple

of years, that the rate of change that we are experiencing

climatically is far more dramatic than they expected it to be.

Pat Mulroy

SNWA

Director


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The New Normal

Increasingtemperatures

Increasing demand

Reduced flows


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Colorado River Basin Water

Supply and Demand Study Commissioned to

assess

supply/demandimbalance in

Colorado River

Basin

Projects an

imbalance of 3.2

MAF by 2060 Presented options

to deal with

problem, but noplan


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Supply and Demand Study

Options Considered


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Fill Mead First Proposal

Prioritize water storage in Lake Mead

Recover up to 300,000 acre feet annually

Stabilize Lower Basin water supplies

Provide benefit to Upper Basin States

Legally and technically feasible

Allow much of Glen Canyon to be restored


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New Study Quantifies Water Lost in

Powell to Ground Seepage By Dr. Tom Myers, in the Journal of the

American Water Resources Association

Shows Lake Powell loses up to 380,000 acre

feet to ground seepage every year

More than the entire state of Nevadas

allocation


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Fill Mead First is Legally Feasible

Analysis by Dr. Lawrence MacDonnell found

that Fill Mead First does not violate the

Colorado River Compact

Administrative action based on Basin State

agreement could enact Fill Mead First


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The Drying of the West Feb. 22

Water Shortages What to Expect in the Future

Feb. 18

Colorado River Drought Forces Painful Reckoning

for States Jan. 5

Colorado River Crisis 2014

Lake Powell

Demand Mgmt


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Lake Powell - Demand Mgmtand Re-Operations

(single trace 2000-2007; 1988-1999)

Lake Mead

Demand Mgmt


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Lake Mead - Demand MgmtActions (single trace 2000-2007; 1988-1999)

Colorado River Storage Project Units (CRSP)


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Colorado River Storage Project Units (CRSP)

SOURCE: USBR UPPER

COLORADO REGION STORAGELEVELS AS OF 12/09/13

CRSP Acts of1956 and 1968

authorizedconstruction offacilities forlong-term

regulation anddevelopment ofColorado Riverwater resources

fill

Flaming Gorge3.7MAF active capacity

75% full

fill

fill

Blue Mesa0.84MAF active capacity

45% full

Navajo1.7 MAF active capacity

57% fullfill

Lake Powell 26 MAF active capacity 43% full

fill

Aspinall Unit:Blue Mesa, MorrowPoint & Crystal Res.


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Hite

2000

2004


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Hite

1999

2004

2004

2005


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Gregory Natural Bridge

1966 2004


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LaGorce Arch

Before & After


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Cathedral

in theDesert

1964


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Davis Gulch


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North Fork of Willow Creek


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Dozens of unnamed side canyons

canyons


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Archaeological Sites Emerging

Fort Moqui


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Bathtub ring already disappearing


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Springs emerge as maidenhair ferns return

Lower EscalanteMountain Sheep Canyon

il


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Wildlife returns quicklywil

dlif

e


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New Glen Canyon = new opportunities


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Benefits of the new Glen Canyon

1,250,000 acres of Natl Park caliber canyon country

Reservoir economy would evolve to stronger, sustainableeconomy (Expanded Grand Circle)

Substantial Tribal opportunities

Protection and Restoration of the biological heart of the

Colorado Plateau

Restoration of Grand Canyon ecosystem


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Working to restore and protect a healthy Colorado River through Glen Canyon and Grand

Canyon.

Working with management agencies to protect

emerging resources.

Educating the public about the emergence of Glen

Canyon and the need to protect it.

Working with policy makers and water managers to

revising western water policy.

Developing the Glen Canyon Living Atlas.

Economic research of Colorado River reservoirrecreation and hydropower economics.

Organizing local and national grassroots support for

permanent protection of Glen Canyon.

glen canyon institute


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Join us in this historic movement torestore and protect Glen Canyon.


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http://www.glencanyon.org/

Glen Canyon Institute Roadshow presentation for KDNK

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