The mighty 1,540-mile-long Colorado River provides water for over 40 million people in the Southwestern U.S. and is a vital lifeline for people in seven states and Mexico. It has a drainage basin of over 246,000 square miles and it provides water to the cities of Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, and many more. However, it has been drying up over the 21st century, threatening millions of Americans’ access to freshwater.
In 1922, the Colorado River Compact was signed, which granted each state in its drainage basin (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, and California) 7.5 million acre-feet of water per year, and in 1944 updated to allocate Mexico 1.5 million acre-feet of water per year. This was complemented by the Hoover Dam, which was completed in 1935. The dam, which also provides hydroelectric power, created Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States. The lake also helps fuel agriculture in the region and is a major source of freshwater.
In the hot, arid Western U.S., people use a lot of water. In fact, Arizonans use 147 gallons of water per day, compared to just 51 gallons used by Wisconsinites. This overconsumption of water has led to Lake Mead losing a lot of water: the lake has been below capacity since 1983 and continues to decline steadily. In early 2020, the Lake Mead was only at 43% capacity.
A lack of water in Lake Mead is very bad news, especially to the huge metropolises that rely on it. With the frequency of droughts only increasing, the future is looking bleak for the Colorado River, which continues to get smaller and smaller. Officials have stated that, should droughts continue, the likelihood of a water shortage in the foreseeable future is very high.
And demand is continuing to rise, too. Los Angeles, Denver, Las Vegas, and Phoenix are among the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. And agricultural products, which account for 70% of water usage, are also in high demand.
Officials are now, therefore, scrambling to find solutions to fix the water problem the Southwestern U.S. is facing, for when the Colorado River runs too dry or there is not enough water in Lake Mead. One solution is to transport fresh water from the Great Lakes up in Michigan or Wisconsin, all the way down to the Southwest. Another proposal is to build desalination plants along California’s coastline.
There also needs to be more water-efficient crops grown in the Colorado’s watershed. Arizona grows a lot of cotton, a water-intensive crop. Switching to wheat or another less water-intensive crop could save billions of gallons of water per year.
Unnecessary water consumption must be eliminated altogether, especially in times of drought. Constantly looking for new sources of fresh water is not a sustainable model. A reduction in water use will help make securing water for the western U.S. more sustainable in the long run.