Arizona desert town caps growth as Colorado River crisis deepens

The mayor of a small Arizona desert town that depends almost entirely on the Colorado River says a new federal plan to address the basin's deepening crisis will not be enough to keep his community afloat. Cave Creek, a town of about 5,000 people on the outskirts of Phoenix, has already capped growth, revived old wells and struck water deals to prepare for a drier future. Mayor Robert Morris compared the situation to planning for a meteor strike.

“You can see it coming, but you can’t get out of the way and you don’t know what the damage is going to be,” Morris said. The town was forced to make cuts this year and stands to lose more under the federal plan, which targets reductions across seven U.S. states, tribal nations and Mexico.

The Colorado River serves roughly 40 million people across the West, and its flow has been dwindling due to climate change, demand and overuse. The uncertainty is now rippling through the region. Farmers are deciding which crops are worth planting, Phoenix could lose some municipal and industrial water for the first time and turn to backup supplies, and residents could face higher water costs.

Nevada raised the stakes this week by suing the Interior Department and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, arguing that basic needs in the Las Vegas region will go unmet if the area has to absorb planned reductions of up to 70% of its Colorado River water in the next decade. The bureau said Thursday it does not comment on litigation.

“The uncertainty is going to continue to build in the wrong direction,” said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

Western reservoirs are hitting record lows. Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the two largest reservoirs in the country and key barometers of the river system's health, both reached record lows this month. Eight other reservoirs operated by the Bureau of Reclamation recently recorded their lowest levels in at least 30 years. Among them is Elephant Butte Lake in New Mexico, which is critical for supplying water for crops in southern New Mexico, Texas and Mexico. The Green Mountain Reservoir serves western Colorado, and the Guernsey Reservoir in Wyoming funnels water to farmers in the eastern part of that state and western Nebraska.

Under the Bureau of Reclamation's plan, California, Nevada and Arizona will collectively reduce water use by 1.25 million acre-feet — enough to fill over 600,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools — annually in the next two years, with the possibility of larger cuts depending on conditions. Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico are not required to make cuts for now but could voluntarily reduce water.

While El Niño could bring intense moisture to the northern Rockies and the Southwest in the coming months, it will not erase decades of drought. “Drought is a slow-moving phenomena and it can take some time to come into it and also come out of it,” said David Mocko, senior research scientist who authored a recent U.S. Drought Monitor map.

Farmers are feeling the pressure. John Boelts grows vegetables, melons, durum wheat and other crops in Yuma, Arizona, a region that produces about 90% of leafy greens eaten in North America during the winter. Farmers there have high-priority rights and may avoid cuts to their Colorado River supply over the next two years, but Boelts said the reprieve is not enough to make longer-term plans. That makes farmers reluctant to plant new acreage. Citrus, date and other orchard crops that thrive in the region take years to become commercially productive.

“There’s no food that we grow in a hurry,” said Boelts, the Arizona Farm Bureau president. “Beef takes years to produce. The lettuce you eat today? A farmer was working on how they would grow that crop six plus months ago.”

Ray Martinez grows alfalfa on a reservation that is home to the Colorado River Indian Tribes. The tribe holds some of the river's oldest rights, and while its Arizona allocation is huge, an old irrigation system and the lack of infrastructure have kept much of the water out of reach. Martinez and the water department are concerned about having enough water to finish this growing season. He has left some fields unplanted for years to help prop up Lake Mead. If the reservoir keeps dropping, he said, surface water coming to him and neighboring farms will be further limited.

“Unfortunately, Mother Nature has its own way of doing things, and we have no control of that,” he added.

Author

Derek Weston

Sports Writer

Derek Weston covers public affairs, politics, business, culture and daily news for Core Memo. The role focuses on verification, context, and clear explanations for readers.

All articles by this author