San Diego Shows Municipal Water Surplus Amidst Shortage
San Diego has been in the news over the last two months because it is actively trying to secure partners to buy some of its surplus water supply. It is starting to explore interstate water trading on the Colorado River and has secured a 20-year sale to Riverside County. It’s rare to find a municipality […]
Balancing the Budget – The Levers of Reallocation in Utah
The Utah Division of Water Resources recently published an updated water budget for the state. Model inputs were improved, which included a significant increase in depletions in the municipal sector due to improved efficiency of landscape irrigation systems. This change highlights the “no free lunch” aspect of water management – the best practice of making household landscapes […]
From Coal Power to Fish Flows – Policy Influence on Water Reallocation
Thurston County in Washington secured a state grant for $2.4M to purchase 800 acre-feet (AF) of water rights from the Trans Alta Water Bank. The Water Bank has been established to repurpose the water rights that were tied to the Centralia coal power plant which is planned for closure. The Trans Alta water rights total about 28,000 AF, of […]
Adapting to Drought: How Colorado River Basin Forage Producers Are Building Flexibility into Their Operations
The dry winter that we are experiencing in parts of the Rocky Mountains is a reminder that water supply conditions may be forever changing and this change has important implications for agricultural producers who have built operations and customs around historical hydrology. WestWater contributed to a forward-thinking study that investigated how forage producers in the […]
Water trading should get a little easier in Canada
Up in the province of Alberta, water users are pleased to see changes to the Water Act that should make it easier to transfer water between uses. The Water Act had not been updated since 1999 and water users up in Canada are seeing the same supply-demand pressures that are well-known to Western U.S. In Alberta, large agricultural […]
Can groundwater banks dampen water price volatility in California?
A research article was recently published that explores price swings in California’s water market. These price swings are well known by water users, who might see water costs of $100 one year and $2,000 per acre-foot unit in the next year. Basic supply-demand factors driven by California’s variable hydrology are the root cause of these price swings, which can be challenging […]
Texas Voters Invest in Water’s Future: Prop 4 Passes
This week, Texas voters delivered a resounding endorsement of the state’s water future, approving Proposition 4 and dedicating $1 billion annually from existing sales tax revenue to the Texas Water Fund—no new taxes required. This historic $20 billion investment over the next two decades couldn’t come at a more critical time. With Texas adding hundreds […]
When it rains…it pours
After months of persistent dry conditions, Southwest Colorado saw one of the most dramatic hydrologic reversals in recent memory. In early October, much of the San Juan and Animas River Basins remained in moderate to severe drought, with depleted soil moisture and low late-season streamflow. Then, the remnants of Tropical Storm Priscilla swept across the […]
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The dry heat of summer has brought to mind visuals of the old “Westerns” where the landscape was desolate and gritty, as were the characters. So saddle up for this edition of the Water Current where we provide a few news stories that caught our attention this past month. The Good A research paper […]
Investments in alternative water supplies continues to be needed
There is a continued need to invest in municipal and regional water supply solutions that don’t look like the dams and river diversions of the early 20th century. Modern water supply solutions often involve water recycling and reuse, groundwater storage and banking, and advanced water treatment technologies. Some examples of these alternative water supply investments […]