Colorado River -- Water Wars may affect 1 in 8 Norteamericanos

[Winehole23]

may god favor the Texas coastal bend with a hurricane soon, especially the city of Corpus Christi

Choke Canyon Reservoir and Lake Corpus Christi are the main water sources, which are fed by the Nueces, Frio, and Atascosa rivers (smaller rivers). As of March 2026, the main reservoirs have dropped to critically low levels, below 10% capacity.

https://www.texastribune.org/2026/03...-water-crisis/

[Winehole23]

iirc, Cosmic Cowboy is a recreational user of Choke Canyon

how's it looking these days, CC?

The imminent depletion of water supplies in Corpus Christi threatens to cut off the flow of jet fuel to Texas airports and other oil exports from one of the nation’s largest petroleum ports, triggering potential shockwaves through energy markets in Texas and beyond.


Without significant rainfall, Corpus Christi is headed for a “water emergency” within months and total depletion of the system next year, according to the city’s website. “The impacts are going to be felt tremendously through the state, if not internationally,” said Sean Strawbridge, former CEO of the Port of Corpus Christi Authority, the nation’s top port for crude oil exports, in a 40-minute interview Thursday. “This should be no surprise to anybody. We were talking about this over a decade ago.”

Other current and former officials, alarmed at what they call a lack of preparations, have suggested the potential for an economic crisis involving mass layoffs, disruption of fuel supplies and billions of dollars in emergency spending to avoid an evacuation of the city.

[CosmicCowboy]

iirc, Cosmic Cowboy is a recreational user of Choke Canyon

how's it looking these days, CC?

I have never been to Choke Canyon. I mostly salt water fish both inshore and offshore. Only freshwater I do is with the grandkids off my dock at McQueeney. But yeah, Corpus is in a world of hurt and about to run out of water.

[Winehole23]

the snowpack was already low in the west from an unusally hot and dry winter

the intense heat dome plus ongoing drought conditions bode ill for the Colorado River basin

“This will be … the warmest winter on record and the driest, and those two things don’t help us when we’re trying to figure out how to fill Lake Powell and Lake Mead,” Gene Shawcroft, Utah’s Colorado River negotiator, said at the Utah Water Users conference on Tuesday.


The nation’s two largest reservoirs that store water for millions of people across the Southwest are nearing critical lows. Lake Powell was 25% full and Lake Mead was 34% full as of March 15.


The Bureau of Reclamation’s latest most probable forecast for Powell shows the reservoir reaching “power pool,” or 3,490 feet, by the end of this year. At that level, Glen Canyon Dam can no longer generate electricity and sustain releases downstream to California, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/environm...ns-water-utah/

[Winehole23]

Clayton’s team uses a modeling system that compares current data to historical observations. “We use the past to mirror what we expect in the present,” he said. But this year, there’s no good comparison.


Because of this, he recommends water managers look at the lowest probable forecast rather than the most likely forecast this year.


“We have some obvious, very serious challenges in terms of managing our water,” Clayton said.

[Winehole23]

The seven states in the Colorado River Basin have been at an impasse over future management of the river. The states continue to negotiate and will meet in person on Thursday “to see if there’s any common ground,” Shawcroft said.


Current guidelines for managing the river in dry years expire this year, and a new plan for operating Powell and Mead must be in place by Oct. 1, Shawcroft added.


The bureau is currently undergoing an environmental review process for possible paths forward, but without a seven-state agreement, it has limited legal authorities, according to the draft environmental impact statement.

[Winehole23]

How much water is released is likely to be a matter of controversy, however. The Lower Colorado River Basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada want more water released from upstream reservoirs into Powell. They argue those reservoirs were initially approved in the 1950s to store enough extra water to ensure the Upper Basin states can meet required obligations to deliver water to Lake Mead. Mead, at the Arizona-Nevada border, stores water for delivery to the Lower Basin states for drinking and irrigation.




The Lower Basin's argument is disputed by the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming.




"Their contention is those other reservoirs were built to satisfy their needs," Wegner said.

What's clear is that if river flows drop as low as some experts fear, there will definitely be less water coming to Arizona, California and Nevada from Lake Mead.

https://tucson.com/news/local/subscr...44797c531.html

[Winehole23]

a tropical storm would be very welcome in Corpus Christi

Without a shift in weather patterns, the City of Corpus Christi expects to enact emergency restrictions on water use in September, according to draft do ents slated for release at a City Council meeting on Tuesday morning.


The 43-page draft presentation, provided to Inside Climate News by a source close to Corpus Christi’s water department, describes plans to mandate 25 percent cuts for all of its water customers, including nearly 500,000 people in the Coastal Bend region of Texas, as well as one of the state’s leading petrochemical and refinery hubs.


The order to curtail water would be an unprecedented conservation measure, meant to draw out the timeline to depletion of the region’s reservoirs, which could occur within the next year.


“We’re running out of water,” said U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud, a Republican who represents the region, in comments to Energy Secretary Chris Wright during a budget hearing last week in Washington, D.C. “I want to just remind you of that.”

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/2...-restrictions/