One hundred years ago, we had some flexibility because the river was not very well-used. Today, not a drop of the Colorado River reaches the Gulf of California, so we don’t have that luxury. The way I look at it is: we legally allocated water based on an assumption that this river system had about 20 million acre-feet. Today, we think it’s more like 13, and it might be less in the future with climate change. Predictions and models show that increasing temperatures are going to reduce flows to the Colorado River. The drama is not how much water we’re going to have in the future — we know it’s going to be less. The drama is how we’re going to decide who gets less water, and when.
jfleck at inkstain
A few thoughts from John Fleck, a writer of journalism and other things, living in New Mexico
John:
Who gets cut is really simple. Water is a finite resource subject to the rules of zero sum games. The is “last in is first out” No need to pontificate. You can’t satisfy everyone. If you have something better to do with your time, do it. I spend my time quantifying the resources and assisting people in re-distributing it when its use at one location is not longer needed to another location where it is needed.