climate, noun
- The meteorological conditions, including temperature, precipitation, and wind, that characteristically prevail in a particular region.
- A region of the earth having particular meteorological conditions.”They live in a cold climate.”
- A prevailing condition or set of attitudes in human affairs. “A climate of unrest.”
It seems to me that all of us humans have split personalities.
On the one hand, we like things to remain comfortably and predictably the same, day after day, and year after year.
But at the same time, we crave change and variety. We get easily bored if life is too static.
Meanwhile, the world around us has its own ideas about whether to change or remain the same. I’m thinking of the old adage: “If you don’t like the weather in Colorado, just wait five minutes.”
Even the climate in Colorado — the big overarching trends in temperature, precipitation and wind, that you might think ought to remain generally the same, regardless of incidental changes in the daily weather — seems unstable, these days.
In this editorial series, I’d like to discuss a particular concern related to a couple of types of ‘climate’. The meteorological climate… and the political climate… here in Archuleta County.
I attended a joint meeting of our two water districts on Monday evening, June 30. The meeting was called by Gene Tautges, president of the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) board of directors, who had extended an invitation to the community’s other water district, the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD). The main item on the agenda was “water data”.
How do the two districts collect and use data about the water needs in Archuleta County? How do the two districts view the future, in terms of past and current water use?
How can we make the best decisions for the future of our community?
Disclosure: I currently serve as a volunteer member of the PAWSD board, but this editorial reflects only my own research and opinions, and not necessarily the opinions of the PAWSD board and staff.
PAWSD collects raw water from the San Juan River and its tributaries, treats the raw water in one of three water treatment plants, and delivers the treated water to Pagosa Springs residents, businesses and visitors.
SJWCD does not treat or deliver water, but according to its website, “is charged with providing water conservation, water resources planning, stream improvement, water rights protection, and development services within its service area, which includes most of the urban and suburban areas of Archuleta County, centered on the town of Pagosa Springs.”
The two districts jointly own a 660-acre property north of downtown Pagosa — the former Running Iron Ranch — which they purchased in 2008 as the site for a future reservoir known as the Dry Gulch Reservoir. When the property was purchased, the plan was to have PAWSD customers pay for the reservoir. (SJWCD does not have any ‘customers’. They have ‘constituents’.)
The current PAWSD board, and past PAWSD boards, have — since about 2012 — wanted to sell the ranch and get the PAWSD customers out from under millions of dollars in debt payments. Those PAWSD boards have also viewed the proposed reservoir as not financially feasible.
The current SJWCD board, and past SJWCD boards, have wanted PAWSD customers to keep paying on the loan, because SJWCD sees the Dry Gulch Reservoir as crucial infrastructure to ensure the community’s future viability.
In this editorial series, we will be listening to, and analyzing, some of the comments made at the June 30 joint meeting. Access to water is an incredibly important topic in the American West, which most of us probably take for granted. The PAWSD and SJWCD boards do not take it for granted.
But first, I’d like to talk for a moment about the term “dead pool”.
Water experts from seven western states have been meeting over the past couple of years to reach an agreement about how much water from the Colorado River each state will be entitled to, in 2026 and into the foreseeable future. From what I hear, the experts are no closer to an agreement than they were when the discussions started.
Meanwhile, the water levels in in two large reservoirs fed by the Colorado River — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — have been dropping over the past 20 years. The water comes mainly from the Rocky Mountains, but it eventually serves millions of people in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and Colorado.
Lake Mead is the nation’s largest reservoir and is part of the Colorado River Basin network, which supplies water to seven U.S. states, 30 tribal nations and also parts of Mexico.
In 2022, Lake Mead hit its lowest level, since it began filling in 1935. The reservoir recovered somewhat in 2023, due to a wet spring and summer, but it appears destined to set a new record for its lowest level. From a Newsweek story by journalist Sophie Clark, updated on June 19:
Lake Mead’s water levels are projected to be the lowest in recorded history by 2027, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
The lake, which was first filled in 1935, is already only 31 percent full after dropping to a low of 1,041.71 feet of water above sea level in July 2022. Its levels have risen since that low in 2022, but are expected to fall again to 1,041.06 feet as of May 2027…
About 25 million people, including residents of Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles, rely on water from Lake Mead. The lake was created by Hoover Dam, and the water flowing through the dam generates enough hydroelectric power to serve 1.3 million people in Nevada, Arizona and California.
At the rate things are looking at the moment, we are looking at a future “dead pool” situation. Dead pool is when the water above the dam is so low that no water passes through it. A dead pool would theoretically mean no water supply to 25 million people. And no hydropower.
“The [Bureau of Reclamation] is telling us to expect more big winters, but the data shows the Bureau keeps overestimating future flows,” Eric Balken, the executive director of the Glen Canyon Institute, said in a statement last year. “One or two bad winters and we are back in crisis mode at Powell and Mead. That is the real story.”
There is, of course, two big reasons why Lake Mead is so low. Greed… and unchecked population growth.
California, Arizona and Nevada are extracting more water from the reservoir than the Rocky Mountains can supply. And it appears, from the news reports I’m reading, that California, Arizona and Nevada have every intention of continuing to extract too much water — and are demanding that Colorado, Wyoming and Utah stop using their allotment and send more water downstream. It’s not a pleasant dispute.
The dispute here is Pagosa Springs, over the Dry Gulch Reservoir, is also not pleasant.