The Colorado River has two big reservoirs, Mead and Powell. The amount of water they contained on Sunday was the lowest ever recorded since 1957 — before there was a Lake Powell.
The Traveling Wilburys — the name given by Big Pivots to a group of scholars and others from Colorado and several other states in the Colorado River Basin who have been issuing periodic reports — shared the news yesterday about a new low in Colorado River storage.
On Sunday, July 12, the combined water stored in the basin’s two biggest reservoirs, Mead and Powell, had declined to 12,675,509 acre-feet.
The last time the storage in those two reservoirs was so low was on May 23, 1957. All that water was in Lake Mead. That was while Glen Canyon Dam was being constructed.
“Every day going forward until runoff from the 2026-2027 winter snowpack begins next spring, a new record low will likely be set,” they said.
“This is a significant moment in the evolving Colorado River water supply crisis.”
To read the full paper, go here.
The “Wilburys” consists of Jack Schmidt, Anne Castle, John Fleck, Eric Kuhn, Kathryn Sorensen, and Katherine Tara.
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