Rising demand and falling supply have water managers in the arid West projecting that the Colorado River won’t be able to meet the demands over the next 50 years of a population of 40 million people and growing, AP reports.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday issued what he termed “a call to action” along with a three-year study of the river, its flows and its ability to meet the future needs of city dwellers, Native Americans, businesses, ranchers and farmers in seven Western states.
The study found the population in the West could double, while today’s drought-stricken Colorado River is expected to only recover about 85 percent of its historic flows.
“We are in a troubling trajectory in the Colorado River basin, as well as the Rio Grande basin,” Salazar told reporters on a conference call outlining the math in the findings of the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study.
“There is no one solution that is going to meet the needs of this challenge,” Salazar said. “We need to reduce our demand through conservation. We also need to augment supply with practical measures.”
The river supplies the Central Arizona Project, the chief drinking water source for the Tucson area and a leading water source for the Phoenix area. This report is the latest of many such reports over the years to warn that the river’s flow will not hold up to demands based on population growth, and that river shortages are likely.
