Reservoirs on the Colorado River
- Hoover Dam holds back Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States. It is currently at its lowest level in 40 years. Lake Mead will hold 31 million-acre feet of water if the water is at its highest level.
- Glen Canyon Dam created Lake Powell, which stores 26.2 million-acre feet of water. Consideration is currently being given to drain Lake Powell to fill Lake Mead to lessen the strain created by the 100-year drought.
- Davis Dam is at the base of Lake Mojave, which stores 1.8 million-acre feet of water. I could find no information on the current capacity level for 2022.
Colorado River Basin Compact
- The Colorado River Basin Compact was signed into law by Herbert Hoover, then Secretary of the Interior, in 1922. It guaranteed 7.5 million-acre feet of water to supply both the upper and lower basin.
- Biden’s Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, is the Water Master. She is responsible for every decision concerning the distribution of Colorado River Water. Secretary Haaland must make it a priority to review water distribution apportioned in 1922. It is ridiculous to continue with a policy established 96 years ago in view of the population in the western states today.
Colorado 51.75%
New Mexico 11.25%
Utah 23%
Wyoming 14%
Arizona 50,000-acre feet annually
- Lower Basin States were allocated the following acre feet of water.
California 4.4 million-acre feet
Arizona 2.8 million-acre feet
Nevada 300,000-acre feet
The population shift in the states in the lower basin is important because the water distribution percentages have never been recalculated to reflect the change in population throughout the western states.. In 1922, no one could have predicted Nevada would grow to a population of over 3 million residents according to the latest US Census.
Great Basin Aquifer
The Great Basin Aquifer contains more fresh water than all the fresh water in the Great Lakes. The five lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Erie contain 6 quadrillion gallons, or 1/5 of all the fresh water in the world. Yet the Great Basin Aquifer, which lies beneath Nevada and a section of western Utah, is the largest contiguous watershed in North America. It covers 400,000 square miles of Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico and Nevada. This aquifer contains enough water to eliminate water concerns in the Western United States into the foreseeable future. Nuclear testing at Frenchman’s Flat, the “Test Site”, poisoned the aquifer. Over 1,021 nuclear bombs were exploded between 1951 and 1992. Of that amount 921 were underground, and 1/3 were detonated directly in the aquifer.
Recently, methods of removing heavy metals from water in the aquifer have been developed. Water is not radioactive. It is heavy metals, held in suspension by the water, which must be extracted to make it fit for human use.
What would it cost to solve the water problems in the Southwest?
The newest aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy fleet is the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford This mega carrier cost $12.8 billion dollars to build. The additional cost of an air wing, the support of 5 surface combat ships, 1 attack submarine and 6,700 sailors cost as much every year as the building cost of $12.8 BILLION.
The Federal Government created the toxic waste condition of the Great Basin Aquifer. Building one less aircraft carrier and the money for support requirements would free up $25 billion dollars to clean-up of the aquifer. We do not need another aircraft carrier, but 40 million people desperately need water.
https://www.usbr.gov/lc/hooverdam/faqs/riverfaq.html
https://www.nps.gov/lake/learn/nature/storage-capacity-of-lake-mead.htm
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