From The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel (Dennis Webb):
[Molina resident Carlyle Currier the IBCC representative for the Colorado River Basin Roundtable] and others involved in water policy in western Colorado see Lake Powell as a bank account for upper basin states, ensuring their ability to fulfill their water delivery obligation to lower basin states under the terms of the 1922 Colorado River Compact. Lower basin states are using more Colorado River water than they are entitled to under the compact — a rate that has proven to be an unsustainable during a decade of drought and has drawn down Lake Mead. “If we are required to allow too much water to meet the needs of the lower basin … and those that benefit from Lake Mead, well, that puts us in jeopardy of lowering Lake Powell too much and getting us in real trouble if we do have another severe drought like 2002,” Currier said.
1,082 and falling? Just a few weeks ago, Mead’s water elevation dropped to 1,082 feet above sea level, its lowest point since it was filled in the 1930s. “Quite frankly, in terms of operating the reservoir, it was just a historical fact, not much more than that. But it was still of great interest, I think, to folks,” said Terry Fulp, deputy regional director of the Bureau of Reclamation Lower Colorado Region.
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