letteR submitted to the Secretary of Interior and Commissioner of Reclamation regarding the drought
Monday, August 22, 2022
CNBC Interview on "The NEWS with Shepard Smith"
"We are about out of time here. 2-3 more years like the last 2 years and we are all going to be in deep jeopardy in the Lower Basin".
Tom Davis, President of the Agribusiness & Water Council of Arizona and General Manager of the Yuma County Water Users' Association
Saving the Colorado River!
How did we get here?
Over years and decades, we can convince ourselves we did the right thing about making hard decisions and everything has caught up with us now. The Colorado River is in crisis. There is an emergency need of two-to-four-million-acre feet of water in storage to save the river.
In recognition of the realities of a crashed river, what would be the impact on our industry, region and our country? The Yuma growing area provides the United States with 90% of its leafy green winter vegetables. That production cannot be replicated anywhere else.
Growers would give up and reduce their water orders by 1-acre-ft per acre, leaving water behind the dam in Lake Mead. They will consider a high value for doing this. Growers will take the compensation and put back into the ground to produce near or as much as they produce now.
This is NOT a fallowing program.
Lake Mead
To stay up to date on the elevation at Lake Mead at Hoover Dam, the Bureau of Reclamation posts End of the Month Elevation (Feet).