The Super El Niño Won’t Fix the West’s Water Crisis
Despite a record-breaking El Niño expected to bring precipitation, experts warn it will not resolve the long-term water crisis in the Colorado River basin. Low water levels in Lakes Powell and Mead, combined with over-allocation and political gridlock, threaten the region's water security.
Why it matters
The Colorado River is a critical water source for millions in the US; its potential failure poses severe risks to agriculture, hydropower, and municipal water supplies.
Enter El Niño. The weather phenomenon, which is shaping up to be the strongest one of its kind in recorded history, may bring increased rain and snowfall to the southwestern United States this winter and spring. But experts caution that that precipitation might not be enough to stave off the slow-building disaster on the Colorado River. Even a best-case scenario this winter, involving a healthy snowpack in the region helping to temporarily replenish the river, would be no match for the longer-term problems plaguing it.
The Colorado River is fed primarily by snowmelt from the four states in the river’s Upper Basin (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming), which then supplies the Lower Basin states (California, Arizona, and Nevada). Lakes Powell and Mead are crucial reservoirs that bring water to those lower states.
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