Colorado River Basin Water Management Evaluating and Adjusting to Hydroclimatic Variability (2007) / Chapter Skim
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6 Epilogue
6 Epilogue
Pages 151-154
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From page 151... ...
In the 19th century, John Wesley Powell, Clarence King, and other scientists recognized the unique challenges posed by the region's aridity as they conducted the initial geological surveys of the region. As head of the federal Irrigation Survey in the late 1880s, Powell unsuccessfully challenged Nevada Senator Bill Stewart and influential western ranching and landholding interests when he sought to constrain Western settlement so that land and water resources could first be surveyed and more closely assessed in terms of their carrying capacity.
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From page 152... ...
The 1968 National Research Council report on water and choice in the Colorado River basin, for instance, noted that while population was growing rapidly in the region, "Much of the Colorado basin is almost uninhabited." Large portions of the basin's interior and arid regions remain sparsely populated today, but over the past 40 years, and especially since the mid-1980s, urban water demands within the basin and in water delivery areas outside of the basin have grown in importance in the context of Colorado River water storage and operational decisions. In earlier times, concerns regarding hydroclimatic variability and the Colorado River largely centered on the Bureau of Reclamation's Annual Operating Plan and operational specifics derived from the Law of the River, such as equalization of storage levels between Lakes Powell and Mead.
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From page 153... ...
This report highlights the many factors that are likely to heighten future water management challenges, and which may eventually prompt substantial changes in policies for managing and using water. There is no technical cure-all or panacea capable of resolving the region's increasing water supply-and-demand tensions.
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From page 154... ...
It also includes findings related to cooperation among the basin states and between scientists and water managers. The report recommends that a comprehensive assessment of contemporary urban water management practices and other relevant water supply-and-demand issues be conducted, and that this assessment consider both the full implications of agricultureto-urban water transfers and future development of regional water demand forecasting.
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