RIP to my Grandpa Jack (1924-2026), who died at 101 today while eating chocolate ice cream with a few of his 12 kids. He fought the Nazis in WWII, had a great sense of humor, and came from a βlong line of extremely accomplished river-men.β Here he is in his Colorado River t-shirt.
οΏΌπ¨βπ³π
good question
And like with the Flint water crisis (or so many other preventable disasters) the highly paid, bungling consultants who are to blame will move away and not be punished while working people will be left to suffer
truly
Colorado River management is more complicated and just as incompetent. The hope at the center of my book is that when we reach a similar level of crisis here (possibly later this year!), the 5.5 million acre-feet of water trapped in Lake Powell will become irresistible and the dam will be modified
Crazy story about the βlegacy of imbecilesβ in Corpus Christi: dreams of desalination, Saudi petro developments, lavish taxpayer-funded parties in Israel, and a city on the brink of collapse as the water runs out.
Iβm so sorry, Brooke
I helped the New York Times cover the bizarre murder spree in Utahβs Wayne County this week
"Burning up the atmosphere and cutting down the trees
The billion dollar bombing of a nation on its knees
See the lightning, hear the cries
Of the wounded in a world in holy war
Mortal thunder from the skies
Killing everything they say they're fighting for"
*between Bluff
Four proposed on the San Juan below Bluff and the confluence! I was only aware of one
Some detail
Dept of Interior map of proposed reservoir sites, 1950. (Every one of those black labels.)
Hold on brother, Jesse Jackson
There's a better world a'coming
Where a man can hope a man will show some heart
You just keep right on believing
In the better side of human
They ain't ready for it yet, but it's a start youtu.be/_8N2AKdnzeA?...
Winnemucca, I hardly knew ya
Iβm about to start train posting again
Theyβre being nice to me? On Reddit? www.reddit.com/r/Utah/comme...
π§΅
(And follow @cowaternerd.bsky.social)
Amen!
As I keep screaming from the rooftop, construction takes time, and weβre out of time! Things only get worse and worse starting around here 3,510β:
Without an incredible change in the trajectory of winter precipitation in the CO Basin this may be the year we see catastrophic collapse of the system and it really feels like weβre just standing on the tracks watching the train saying βwe donβt have the legal authority to step off the trackβ
Even at true dead pool (3,370β), water would still flow through the dam by gravity, so Grand wouldnβt dry up unless outlet tunnels started to cavitate. Flows could get lower than weβve seen since 1963 though. Motor trips would get more difficult below 5,000 cfs
A lucky someone has the opportunity to swipe right π
They will try it again this year, probably with a bigger release. But it wonβt solve the problem
They tried that when we were in a similar situation in 2022. 500k acre feet was released from Flaming Gorge, and Lake Powellβs level kept going down. USGS wasnβt even able to determine if the water made it (most was lost to bank seepage).
And not so good for everybody and everything else in the basin, but weβll take the wins when we can get them
