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Lake Mead And Lake Powell Hit Historic Lows As Colorado River Crisis Deepens
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Lake Mead And Lake Powell Hit Historic Lows As Colorado River Crisis Deepens

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette In the past 10 days, both Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border and Lake Powell roughly 300 miles northeast on the Utah-Arizona line have recorded their lowest water levels since the reservoirs were first filled. Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir and which supplies water to Nevada, Arizona and California, measured 1,040.4 feet above sea level on Aug. 7. The level has continued to drop since then. On Monday, the reservoir measured 1,039.83 feet above sea level, nearly 190 feet below full and down about 2 feet over the past 30 days. A year ago, Lake Mead stood at roughly 1,054 feet. Hoover Dam, which created Lake Mead, was built in 1935. The reservoir was last at full in 1983. If the reservoir loses an...
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“Harris Water Time” and the Colorado River Compact’s century of lessons
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

“Harris Water Time” and the Colorado River Compact’s century of lessons

By Steve Harris | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Any good water management effort, process or project takes what I like to call “water time”—if you expect a water negotiation to take one year, add a zero because it will more likely consume 10! This I now officially and publicly trademark as “Harris Water Time,” patent pending. Yet somehow the sturdy Colorado River Compact seems to turn my “water time” on its head—a complex, controversial interstate compact was negotiated in a year and has withstood over 100! The Colorado River Compact split the basin into Upper and Lower regions, shaping water rights for seven states. Photo source: U.S. Geological Survey (2016a). To explore this confounding story, my young friend suggested I write a series of articles on the Com...
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