Colorado River flow could drop 50% by 2100

Warming in the 21st century has reduced Colorado River flows by at least 0.5 million acre-feet—about the amount of water used by 2 million people for one year, a new study warns.

Colorado River flows could drop by 50
per cent because of global warming.

“This paper is the first to show the large role that warming temperatures are playing in reducing the flows of the Colorado River,” says Jonathan Overpeck, professor of geosciences and of hydrology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Arizona.

From 2000-2014, the river’s flows declined to only 81 percent of the 20th-century average, a reduction of about 2.9 million acre-feet of water per year. One acre-foot of water will serve a family of four for one year, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation.

Read The University of Arizona story - “Colorado River flow could drop 50% by 2100.”