HR: 08:15h
AN: GC31A-02    [Abstracts]
TI: Impacts of Population, Climate Variability and Change on the Management of the Colorado River
AU: * Udall, B H
EM: bradley.udall@colorado.edu
AF: CU-NOAA Western Water Assessment, 325 Broadway R/CDC, Boulder, CO 80305
AU: Pulwarty, R
EM: roger.Pulwarty@noaa.gov
AF: CU-NOAA Western Water Assessment, 325 Broadway R/CDC, Boulder, CO 80305
AU: Kenney, D
EM: douglas.kenney@colorado.edu
AF: CU Natural Resources Law Center, 401 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309-0401
AB: The Colorado River has been called the lifeline of the West. Draining portions of seven states and nearly 250,000 square miles, this river serves the needs of over 25 million people including all of the Southwest's major cities and several million acres of some of the most productive irrigated agriculture in the United States. Since a 1922 interstate compact first allocated the river, there have been numerous federal laws, Supreme Court decrees, and administrative decisions relating to the use of the system. The result is the most complex legal environment pertaining to water in the world. In addition, billions of dollars have been spent constructing huge reservoirs including Lake Mead and Lake Powell which in total store over four years of supply. Despite the enormous system capacity, new demands resulting from long-term population growth and from the completion of new water delivery projects, and an unprecedented five-year drought from 2000 to 2004 severely stressed both the water supply and the legal framework in the basin. The CU-NOAA Western Water Assessment, one of eight NOAA- OGP funded Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments, conducts research, and provides decision support resources to water managers in the basin. Specifically, we provide paleoclimatology research and products, legal analysis, seasonal and sub-seasonal forecasting, climate change assessments, and system yield modeling. This presentation will feature a case study of the Western Water Assessment's activities in the basin including our involvement with several key stakeholders.
DE: 1616 Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513)
DE: 1630 Impacts of global change (1225)
DE: 1655 Water cycles (1836)
DE: 1840 Hydrometeorology
DE: 1880 Water management (6334)
SC: Global Climate Change [GC]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005