Tag Archives: Water

ADWR Sponsors Trip Through the Grand Canyon

Editor’s Note: On July 25, 2019, the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program, or GCDAMP, sponsored an eight-day Colorado River raft trip through the Grand Canyon for the organization’s stakeholders, which include members of government and science-oriented agencies whose duties include conditional analysis and research of the river.

One of those stakeholders was ADWR Water Resources Specialist Craig McGinnis, a member of the GCDAMP Technical Work Group. The work group provides technical assistance to the Adaptive Management Work Group and consults with the Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center in developing criteria and standards for monitoring and research programs.

Craig put together the highly polished video linked below because of his abiding fascination with the canyon and the river and because “I had a good GoPro camera that could do the job — with eight days of charge on a power cell, of course.”

Craig reports: In our roles as public servants of the State of Arizona, we help carry the torch of ADWR’s mission – protecting and enhancing Arizona’s water supplies for current and future generations.

This mission goes hand in hand with the stewardship of our natural heritage: to best preserve the ecological wonders of our surroundings for posterity. Few would argue against the Grand Canyon as the crown jewel of these Arizona treasures – a natural wonder of the world and reflected in our nickname as the Grand Canyon State.

As documented in this clip, the 2019 trip embarked July 25 through August 2. Stated objectives for the trip included providing an opportunity for Tribal representatives and GCDAMP stakeholders to learn about current river issues, and for Tribal partners to articulate their respective concerns and perspectives in a field situation.

https://youtu.be/vev8iMdW7hA

Source: Water Resources Specialist Chronicles his Colorado River Trip Through the Grand Canyon | Arizona Department of Water Resources

Click to see the video. ADWR (Arizona Department of Water Resources) is responsible for all of the water in Arizona. Check out the article for more info on their programs.

Spring Colorado River Runoff Low Since April

A dry April caused the expected spring-summer runoff into Lake Powell to plunge dramatically, with the water-flow forecast down the Colorado River declining as much in one month as Tucson Water customers use in 10 years.

May’s monthly runoff prediction for the April-through-July period was 65% of average, or 4.6 million acre-feet. That’s 1 million acre-feet less than the April forecast predicted. Tucson Water customers typically use close to 100,000 acre-feet a year. While low runoff this year is highly unlikely to trigger the river’s first major shortage as soon as 2021, it raises the possibility of one in 2022.

A shortage would fall particularly hard on Central Arizona farmers. Flows of water into Powell that would be low enough to cause a shortage in 2022 are likely to occur about 10% of the time, said the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s most recent study of its reservoir operations, published in mid-April.

Source: Expected spring runoff into Colorado River plunges after dry April | Arizona and Regional News | tucson.com