Western States Megadrought intensifies - predictions for bad Fire Season and severe water shortages for Colorado (Denver: homes, purchase)

[Sunbiz1]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Worse, I recall that the states around the Great Lakes signed a compact about five years ago to never let there be a pipeline from there to here. So much for unity, eh.

They are unfortunately banned under both federal and state law, and the legislation is fairly recent.
Even if these U.S. laws were absent, we'd still have to work something out with Canada; due to international agreement.
It was saddening to witness what climate change has done to your state.
As last century, Monarch pass was totally green; now it's mile after mile of 90% dead spruce/pine.
A tinder box of beetle damaged wilderness only remains.

[sammy87]

Originally Posted by Vision67

If whatever you want to do obeys the laws of physics and you have enough money, you can do anything.

Bringing water from sea-level areas such as Oregon or Michigan to high altitude Colorado would require quite a bit of energy but it could be done. I actually think the politics would be more difficult than the physics.

But before we do that, let's go after the low hanging fruit such as eliminating bluegrass lawns and golf courses.

Lawns and golf courses arent the problem though. They only use a fraction of water but hey go right ahead and claim a victory.

farming is the biggest water user.

[bluescreen73]

Originally Posted by sammy87

Lawns and golf courses arent the problem though. They only use a fraction of water but hey go right ahead and claim a victory.

farming is the biggest water user.

This. We need to stop growing produce in the middle of the freakin' desert in CA and AZ.

We also need to stop letting idiotically-placed cities like Las Vegas continue to grow at a breakneck pace.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Vision67

But before we do that, let's go after the low hanging fruit such as eliminating bluegrass lawns and golf courses.

The amount of water really needed to sustain human life is really small. 86% of Colorado water is used for agriculture. Federal and state water use laws have bizarre disincentives for agricultural water conservation. The low hanging fruit isn’t golf courses. It’s bizarre government policy that is causing the problem. Water for agriculture isn’t a “right”.

[Melanzana92]

In favor of piping Columbia water. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_by_discharge

Columbia River is No. 4 at 273,000 average cfs.

Colorado River is No. 37 at 22,000 average cfs.

You can theoretically pipe the Colorado's entire flow from the Columbia without even making a blip in its flow. And really, who needs the Columbia's whole flow? There's a bunch of agricultural land and Portland, that's about it. Plenty to share. Unless I'm mistaken, but off the top of my head it sounds just...so doable, with the funds to build the pipeline and allocate the energy needed for the pipeline to function. But is there the will? The USA doesn't really build stuff anymore.

Dump it into the headwaters of the Green, and suddenly Powell and Mead are filled for good. With the Green flowing full, Colorado can keep its own reservoirs full instead of having to release water to fulfill obligations and whatnot.

A man can dream.

[hikernut]

Originally Posted by bluescreen73

This. We need to stop growing produce in the middle of the freakin' desert in CA and AZ.

Is there some other place in the U.S. where enough produce could be grown in the winter? I don't believe there is, but I'm welcome to be corrected.

Of course there's plenty of other crops grown in the Southwest that really should be grown elsewhere... things like alfalfa, corn, and even cotton. All of these can be grown in the Midwest and the South.

[NW Crow]

A big effort to make a major diversion of the Green River failed. To date.

[Colorado Rambler]

And the bad news just keeps on coming in. Here are the latest seasonal outlooks, through May 31, 2022, hot off the presses from the Climate Prediction Center:

[Mike from back east]

Anyone got the snow pack site? I never could find that graphic when I tried. Thank you.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Anyone got the snow pack site? I never could find that graphic when I tried. Thank you.

Here you go:







Also, long-range climatological forecasts are produced by the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), a branch of the National Weather Service. These include 8-14 day outlooks, monthly outlooks, and seasonal outlooks. If you are me, you can spend hours studying the maps and contemplating all the information that this site supplies.