Drought crisis weighing on West
The U.S. West is suffering from successive and compounding drought, and the situation is getting worse.
That was the message of Camille Calimlim Touton, commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation at the U.S. Department of the Interior in June 14 testimony before Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
As of June 7, Touton said, the U.S. Drought Monitor shows more than 40% of the U.S is currently experiencing at least moderate drought, and almost 93% of the western U.S. is experiencing drought or abnormally dry conditions. What's more, 70% of the western U.S. is experiencing severe or extreme drought conditions.
"Across much of the Southwest, California, and parts of the Pacific Northwest and Missouri River Basin, the footprint of drought will likely intensify throughout the summer, with severe to exceptional drought throughout those regions," she said in her testimony.
Touton said California’s Central Valley is experiencing its third consecutive critically dry year.
"The severe drought seen in the West highlights the need for immediate actions, as well as for thoughtful planning and work to make both our infrastructure and operational decisions more resilient to withstand water resource scarcity and variability," Touton said. "Across the West, Reclamation has continued working on using the best available science to improve water supply forecasting and operations planning and modeling to help inform decision-making and meet competing demands."
Patrick O’Toole, president of the Family Farm Alliance, testified to the committee that the government has no meaningful policy approach to the drought.
"The Western drought continues with no real federal policy action other than to limit irrigation supplies to farmers and residents," O'Toole said. "We need to prepare for future droughts, not simply react to current hydrologic shortages."
Major reservoirs in California and along the Colorado River have reached or are approaching historic lows, threatening the ability to generate hydropower, particularly at Lake Powell, behind Glen Canyon Dam, he said. In the Rio Grande Basin, New Mexico’s Elephant Butte Reservoir is less than 13% full.
"Dire challenges are being faced by agricultural water users in California’s Central Valley, the Klamath Basin, the Columbia River Basin and its tributaries in Idaho, Oregon and Washington, the Rogue River Basin in southern Oregon, the Colorado River watershed, and the Great Basin," he said. "Water users in nearly every region of the West are scrambling, looking for creative ways to stretch scant water supplies."
O'Toole said the drought crisis underscores key concerns:
- Improved water infrastructure is needed to protect future water supply reliability;
- Water management in the West is becoming too inflexible;
- Fierce western wildfire disasters are becoming an annual occurrence; and
- Now is the time for collaboration, not confrontation.
Drought is hitting producers hard, he said. "Most importantly, no water for a farmer means no crops, no food, and a very limited ability to take care of his/her family."
One solution to the ongoing drought is federal investment in improving and building new water supply infrastructure.
"Perhaps the only silver lining is that this unprecedented drought crisis will hopefully draw public and political attention to Western agriculture’s critical role in providing a safe and reliable food supply, boosting the national economy, and continuing the country’s stature as the world’s premier food basket," O'Toole said. "We can only hope that this leads to necessary, reasonable policies that support farmers and investment in rural communities, including water infrastructure and increased water-storage capacity."
