Lake Mead concerns are sharpening across the Southwest as Lake Powell fell to 23.4% full on July 19. Cities in Arizona, California and New Mexico are expanding conservation efforts while the reservoir at the Utah-Arizona border nears a level last seen in 1983.
The cutoff point is not just symbolic. Lake Powell is the last major reservoir before water moves farther downstream, and if its level falls more, the river could stop flowing through the Grand Canyon in a dead pool scenario.
Kathryn Sorensen on city duties
Kathryn Sorensen, research director for Arizona State University's Kyl Center for Water Policy, said cities are moving first because they are responsible for tap water service. “At the end of the day, cities have the responsibility to ensure reliable, safe tap water supplies,” she said.
She added, “That’s not the responsibility of the state. It’s not the responsibility of the federal government. And so you see cities really stepping up.” Some of those steps include recycling wastewater, limiting lawn watering and, in some places, desalinating ocean water.
Phoenix has already invested in three water purification facilities, installed leak sensors at city-owned housing and uses technology that adjusts irrigation schedules based on weather data. The city serves 1.7 million water customers, so each conservation step reaches a large base of households.
California and six other states
Dave Owen, associate dean for research at the University of California College of Law in San Francisco, said the river still has enough water if it is managed differently. “The reality is there probably is enough water in the Colorado River to go around, if we are smart about how we use that water,” he said.
He pointed to the gap between city conservation and the larger share of water used elsewhere. Nearly half of the country’s vegetables and more than three-quarters of its fruits and nuts are grown in California, and a substantial amount of those crops are irrigated with Colorado River water. Kathryn Sorensen also said, “We can't solve this problem without the participation of agriculture,” and added, “The scale is too big to solve it on the backs of cities alone.”
California and the six other states that manage the river have been unable to reach a compromise on what to do about the problem. For residents in Arizona, California and New Mexico, the immediate practical shift is already visible in stricter watering rules, recycled water systems and new equipment meant to stretch supplies farther before the reservoir drops again.
Colorado River water use
Most of the water diverted from the Colorado River goes to farming, while 20% is designated for residential use. That split is why city leaders can tighten local use and still leave the largest structural question unresolved: how to divide cuts between homes and fields before Lake Powell falls further.
