By Kyle Roerink, Executive Director of Great Basin Water Network and Toiyabe Chapter Executive Committee member.
As reservoirs shrink and temperatures rise this summer, Sierra Club volunteers throughout the region have been sending a message to federal water officials and members of congress: No more business as usual.
Lakes Powell and Mead are at their lowest levels in their history. The bathtub rings at both reservoirs grow by the day. Federal officials are enacting unprecedented management steps -- like shortage declarations, transfers and cuts.
The bathtub ring grows every day as Lake Mead's water level shrinks, requiring mandatory cuts in water allocations for millions of people in Nevada, Arizona, Utah and California. Credit: kenishirotie
Yet, somehow, entities along the river want to pretend like things are normal. Unlike some, however, we are not looking the other way in fear of this crisis. We are facing the challenges without fear –– and with our voices.
Two of our amazing volunteers, Teresa Bell and Lisa Ortega, kicked off our summer of action by gathering at Hoover Dam with other groups, businesses and elected leaders from across the Southwest in order to raise awareness about the problems on the Colorado River, requesting an important list of demands to the federal government on its own turf.
We believe there should be no new dams or diversions –– Like the dangerous Lake Powell Pipeline –– built on the river. The exception is for Indigenous communities that have long been hindered from getting their entitlements of the water and too often excluded from important frameworks of river management.
We also requested that only identified and sustainable supplies of water should be appropriated for new development –– which will require prudent and mindful allocations as well as developments.
Lastly, folks warned that the massive Infrastructure bill, COVID relief funds and Colorado River negotiations should not be vehicles for skullduggery.
Our volunteers have been doing outreach to federal lawmakers, phone banking and sending out mailers to raise awareness about the water supply issues we face across the west. Recently, members visited with staffers (via Zoom) to discuss provisions in the Senate's version of the infrastructure bill that could be linked to the Lake Powell Pipeline.
Simultaneously, we applauded legislative efforts by the Congressional delegation to secure funds that would help build a wastewater treatment facility in Southern California that would, in return, allow Southern Nevada to get a larger share of the Colorado River (at the time of publication this provision had not become law but had a hearing and was included in the infrastructure bill).
Our amazing team of volunteers continued their efforts to also raise awareness about the impacts of sprawl on our long-term water supply –– which would be exacerbated by the Clark County Lands Bill, known officially as the Southern Nevada Conservation and Economic Development Act (Learn more here).
We cannot sit idly by. As our water supplies shrink, our opportunity to do good for communities and the planet continue to grow. The Sierra Club will continue to help carry the water for our family, friends, and future generations.