Arizona Drought Research Paper

As rainfall levels continue to drop below normal for Arizona, the drought continues to raise concerns. Although rainfall isn’t necessarily a type of water source, most of the rain Phoenix gets comes from the Colorado River, which in turn is also one of Arizona’s main sources of water and used for Arizona’s water reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Here are some concerning facts listed below:

The upper basin states (including Colorado) were allocated a much greater percentage of the water than the lower basin states, while the upper basin states were developing at a much slower rate than those in the lower basin, notably California. Nevada (as of 1997) anticipated being unable to rely just on this water by 2015, while in 1997 California was already exceeding its originally allocated supply by diverting unused water from the upper basin states (Arizona.edu, 1997). It goes without saying that this legislation from the early twentieth century is not going to be sufficient in coming years as the development of these regions has progressed at a much faster rate than originally anticipated, and it is the responsibility of state and federal governments, water management companies, as well as appeals from farmers and non-farming residents alike to come to an agreement on how to apportion water and how to implement secondary hydration plans due to the rapidly declining resource that the once-magnificent Colorado River was able to supply us

Warmer temperatures in Arizona in river has been leading to more evaporation. The water that is being used by plants and soil experience evapotranspiration which has accounted for a loss of at least half-million acre-feet of water annually.

In the 1930’s the cities Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and fell into a severe drought. They drought had lasted almost a decade, and on top of that the states had big dust storms. All the states got dust storms so much we all started to call them to“Dust Bowls.” Unfortunately not everyone could get up and move, most farmers were forced to stay. Since the farmers had to stay they had to make the most of what they had. The had no water for the crops, farm animals, or themselves.

California has always had a warm climate, yet its supply of water has rarely been affected. In 2014 California’s water shortage issue truly began. Due to low amounts of snow in the winter in recent years, California has tried to equal out these shortages by drilling water from underground aquifers. Yet, underground aquifers recharge much slower than surface water sources. California has already made significant drawbacks to attempt to limit the amount of water they use, so these aquifers can recharge. But still resources continue going down and the Central Valley Aquifer’s water level is rapidly declining. Luckily, on April 7, 2017 the drought stage of emergency in California was ended. Yet the issue isn’t truly resolved. Glen MacDonald

“Change in the timing and amount of stream flows and spring and seep discharges will affect a wide range of wildlife species, livestock, and wild horses and burros. Water availability from these sources could dry up earlier in the summer as a result of the early melt of the snowpack causing increased competition for water and forage across the landscape. Pipelines and troughs installed by BLM and livestock permits that provide water for livestock, wild horses, and wildlife species over tens of millions of acres may have a reduced capacity to meet these needs” (Pellant). “The Great Basin Desert is home to more than 77,000 mountainous acres of land, 5 distinctive habitats, 71 different kinds of mammals, 18 types of reptiles, and 800 different plant species” (Grange). With all this changing it will be difficult for the desert’s water to meet animal and nature’s needs for life. One animal this has an effect on is the Bull Trout an endangered fish and facing extinction in this desert

As humans, we have a few basic needs. Some of these being security, shelter, food, clothing, and arguably most important, water. When living in a desert though, water may not be quite so readily accessible. With recent droughts in the southwest and the already relatively scarce amount of water and rainfall in Arizona, now is the time when Arizona should begin to make itself more efficient and conservative with its water consumption, because of our reliance on the Colorado River and rapidly depleting groundwater sources and the rapidly growing population and its water demands.

Now Arizona is not the typical state that has a lot of precipitation and rain yearly, but it depends off other reservoirs, lakes, and rivers located in other states to for their water supply. After searching and conducting research, it was found that the main impact Arizona is suffering from the drought is decreasing water levels is from Lake Mead (located in Nevada), and the Colorado River, which flows North to South through several U.S. states. Research and data found shows that the Bureau of Reclamation releases water into the Colorado River below Lake Mead to meet water demands of downstream users in Arizona and California, and also to satisfy treaty obligations to the Republic of Mexico. Findings by the Bureau of Reclamation show that Lake Mead water level’s peaked at 1,214.26 in January of 2000. Almost a decade and a half later, recorded in January 2014, the water levels of Lake Mead are now 1,108.75 (Smith, 2014). This findings show that Arizona is continually getting a decline in water from Lake Mead every month that passes, affects thousands of residents living in Arizona, which already lacks water to begin with. If this continues, this can cause many civilians to both stand by and bare the drought as long as they can, or decide to move out of Arizona to states with a better water supply, so they won’t be burdened with the continual burden of having to ration and conserve water. The state has

The answer to our drought will not be solved in a short amount of time, as a complex issue such as this requires long-term thinking. The state needs to update the water capture delivery systems and fix the groundwater problem due to a lack of regulation.

Certain models predict that drought activity is expected to increase toward the end of the 21st century and particularly in the Colorado River Basin (MacDonald & Turner, 21260). When the dam was built in the early 20th century, annual flow was about 17.0 MAF (million acre-feet) at Lees Ferry, Arizona which is a few miles below the dam. Estimates calculating the past MAF of the Colorado River average to about 13.8-14.6 over the last 450 years. Thus, the dam was built in a period with an unexpectedly high MAF. Alarmingly in 2000 the river averaged less than 9 MAF. (Bolin, Seetharam, & Pompeii, 263). In 2002, the river reached a low of about 6.2 MAF (MacDonald & Turner, 21256). Some models estimate that the river could reach the range of 1.5 to 4.5 MAF in the next 30–50 years. (Bolin, Seetharam, & Pompeii, 271). The reduction of MAF in the Colorado River is due to drought. Droughts have been occurring throughout the 20th century with droughts from 1900-1904, 1924-1936, 1953-1964, and 1988-1991. These droughts are associated with warmer regional temperatures and the level of warming is deemed exceptional for the 21st century (MacDonald & Turner, 21257). Recently the Colorado River has experienced the lowest 5 year mean flows on record (MacDonald & Turner, 21257). If river flow is low, so is Lake Powell’s water level. One study suggests that Lake Powell have a 50% chance of receding to inoperable status by the 2020’s

Over the past couple of weeks, the state of Alabama has been in an extreme drought. Most of the state has had 30 consecutive day without measurable rain. Lakes in the state are at all time low. Waterwork companies are urging customers to use less water. On October 17th, 28 counties were declared to be in a stage 3 drought. This means that, if customers use more than the average amount of water for their family size, there will be a fee attached to their water bill. There is a 60% chance of rain for central and eastern Alabama for October 18th-19th.

Currently California is facing a water shortage. The issue has been addressed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in February. He called for all state agencies to find the way to help in the statewide water shortage. This is California’s third consecutive year of drought and last spring and summer was the worst of the season because it had the lowest amount of water recorded and California’s reservoirs were at their lowest point as well which did not help in the water shortage. Many agencies have been acquired to find possible solutions to the water shortage, the Department of Water Resources has been directed to find solutions to the problem as well as asking people to conserve water.

California has been in a drought for about 4 years now and it has been considered the most severe drought in the last 15 years. The California drought has been causing multiple ongoing problems for the last few years. The state of California has tried to take actions toward ending the drought, but the efforts put forth are clearly not enough to end this drought. The main focus in ending the drought has been water conservation, but many California resident are taking the seriousness of the drought too lightly. The drought has already caused several problems, for example water shortages, dying crops, and wildfires all across the state. If serious actions towards ending the drought are not taken soon, California will continue to surface or may get worse. There are a few ideas underway to try and end the drought in California such as, desalination, wastewater recycling, ground water digging, and the main focus water conservation. All of the solutions to ending the drought will cost a good amount of money, so the fact of the matter is which idea would be most efficient and less costly.

When referring to Arizona’s water Kris Mayes, chairwoman of the state’s utility regulatory panel once said, “How do you say just how valuable water is in an arid state like Arizona?” she said. “It’s like the credit-card commercial-it’s priceless” (McKinnon). She was right, because in a dry state like Arizona, water is pretty important. To say water is ‘pretty important’ for the world is an understatement. We use water to function. And when we think of water we think of saving it. Keep the faucets from dripping or turn off the water while brushing your teeth. There are numerous tips for water conservation, but people don’t often think of the damage that is already done. Damages like ‘dead zones’. Dead zones in the ocean have been around for

In the documentary, “Last Call at the Oasis” it highlights the dark side of the excessive use of water by humans. It is no secret that water is the most important part of human survival, but how humans have been using water has taken a tremendous toll on the water supply. Water use is truly a tragedy of the commons, and as mentioned in the documentary, Lake Mead is just one example of how excess water use is affecting the water supply. Lake Mead provides water to Las Vegas and the surrounding regions as well as produces power with the Hoover Dam. However, the water level of Lake Mead has been dropping at a rate of 10 feet per year. While this may not seem