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colorado river
Driven by Groundwater Depletion, Colorado River Basin Has Lost Equivalent of Underground Lake Mead
"Everyone in the U.S. should be worried about it, because we grow a lot of food in the Colorado River Basin, and that's food that's used all over the entire country."
May 28, 2025
The authors of a new study on water loss in the Colorado River Basin say "large-scale industrial farming" is closely tied to a major depletion of groundwater in the Southwest, where the pumping of groundwater is largely unregulated.
Researchers at Arizona State University used satellite data to measure groundwater supplies across the basin, which runs through seven states including Arizona, California, and Utah.
Measuring the Earth's gravity field to estimate the mass of underground water in the region, they found that the area has lost 27.8 million acre-feet of groundwater since 2003—roughly the same volume as the capacity of the nation's largest reservoir, Lake Mead.
The loss of groundwater has especially accelerated in the past decade, and the basin lost more than twice as much groundwater since 2003 as the amount of water taken out of reservoirs.
"Groundwater is disappearing 2.4 times faster than the surface water," Jay Famiglietti, the senior author of the study and a hydrologist at Arizona State University, told The Guardian.
Groundwater pumping is unregulated in much of the region, and the researchers noted that parts of the basin that have experienced the greatest losses are in areas with industrial alfalfa farming operations.
"Groundwater is disappearing 2.4 times faster than the surface water."
"Overpumping" is the main driver of groundwater loss in the past two decades, Famigletti said. "There's nothing illegal about it, it's just unprotected."
The Colorado River provides water to about 40 million people and millions of acres of farmland.
"Everyone in the U.S. should be worried about it, because we grow a lot of food in the Colorado River Basin, and that's food that's used all over the entire country," Famigletti told The Guardian.
While groundwater has been depleted, hotter temperatures fueled by the burning of fossil fuels have also contributed to especially arid conditions in the region over the past two decades. Since the beginning of the century the Colorado River's natural flow has been 13% lower than it was in the middle of the 20th century.
"We need to recognize where all this is happening and work with the state to put the brakes on," Famigletti toldThe Washington Post. "We used to say the Colorado River is the lifeblood of the western United States, but now it's becoming groundwater is the lifeblood."
States in the region were forced to reach a federal agreement in 2023 to limit water usage and try to protect the river's supply.
The more water that is lost from the river, Famigletti toldthe Post, "the more pressure there's going to be on the groundwater" in the basin.
"And then," he said, "it becomes a ticking time bomb."
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US Appeals Court Halts 'Climate Bomb' Oil Rail Project Over Environmental Concerns
"This is an enormous victory for our shared climate, the Colorado River and the communities that rely on it for clean water, abundant fish and recreation," said one campaigner.
Aug 18, 2023
U.S. Green groups and some Democratic politicians on Friday celebrated a federal appellate court's ruling that pauses the development of the Uinta Basin Railway, a project that would connect Utah's oil fields to the national railway network.
"The court's rejection of this oil railway and its ensuing environmental damage is a victory for the climate, public health, and wild landscapes," said WildEarth Guardians legal director Samantha Ruscavage-Barz. "The public shouldn't have to shoulder the costs of the railway's environmental degradation while the fossil fuel industry reaps unprecedented profits from dirty energy."
Although the ruling does not necessarily permanently block the project—which would cut through tribal land and a national forest—Carly Ferro, executive director of the Utah Sierra Club, similarly called the decision "a win for communities across the West and is critical for ensuring a sustainable climate future."
"From its onset, this project's process has been reckless and egregious. But today, the people and the planet prevailed," Ferro added. "We will continue to advocate for accountable processes to ensure a healthy environment where communities can live safely, and this win will help make that possible."
A coalition of advocacy groups and Eagle County, Colorado launched legal challenges to the project last year. Ruling on the consolidated case Friday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the Surface Transportation Board's (STB) December 2021 approval of the railway, along with the federal agency's related environmental impact statement (EIS) as well as a biological opinion (BiOp) from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The panel found "numerous" violations of the National Environmental Policy Act "arising from the EIS, including the failures to: (1) quantify reasonably foreseeable upstream and downstream impacts on vegetation and special-status species of increased drilling in the Uinta Basin and increased oil train traffic along the Union Pacific Line, as well as the effects of oil refining on environmental justice communities the Gulf Coast; (2) take a hard look at wildfire risk as well as impacts on water resources downline; and (3) explain the lack of available information on local accident risk" in accordance with federal law, wrote Judge Robert Wilkins. "The EIS is further called into question since the BiOp failed to assess impacts on the Colorado River fishes downline."
As the The Colorado Sunreported Friday:
The Surface Transportation Board argued it did not have jurisdiction to address or enforce mitigation of impacts outside the 88-mile rail corridor.
The appeals court ordered the Surface Transportation Board to redo its environmental review of the project. But the court did not agree with Eagle County and the environmental groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity that the Uinta Basin Railway could lead to the opening of the long-dormant Tennessee Pass Line between Dotsero and Cañon City.
The court also did not wholly agree that the transportation board failed to adequately consider the climate impacts of burning the new crude, which could increase pollution and account for 1% of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions.
Still, the Center for Biological Diversity celebrated the decision, with senior campaigner Deeda Seed saying that "this is an enormous victory for our shared climate, the Colorado River, and the communities that rely on it for clean water, abundant fish, and recreation."
"The Uinta Basin Railway is a dangerous, polluting boondoggle that threatens people, wildlife, and our hope for a livable planet," Seed added. "The Biden administration needs to dismantle this climate bomb and throw it in the trash can where it belongs."
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Congressman Joe Neguse, both Colorado Democrats, also welcomed the ruling in a joint statement.
"This ruling is excellent news," the pair said. "The approval process for the Uinta Basin Railway Project has been gravely insufficient, and did not properly account for the project's full risks to Colorado's communities, water, and environment. A new review must account for all harmful effects of this project on our state, including potential oil spills along the Colorado River and increased wildfire risk."
"An oil train derailment in the headwaters of the Colorado River would be catastrophic—not only to Colorado, but the 40 million Americans who rely on it," they added. "We're grateful for the leadership of Eagle County and the many organizations and local officials around Colorado who made their voices heard."
Speaking to Real Vail on Friday, Eagle County attorney Bryan Treu pointed to a Norfolk Southern that was carrying hazardous material when it derailed and burned in East Palestine, Ohio in February—an incident that has since fueled calls across the country for boosting rail safety rules and blocking projects like the Uinta Basin Railway.
"It seems like we read every month this last year about a derailment somewhere," said Treu. "So there's a lot to look at that. The circumstances have changed, and as this goes back to the Surface Transportation Board, they're going to be looking at all those things."
Reutersreported that while the STB declined to comment, "a spokesperson for the project—a public-private partnership that includes the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition, investor DHIP Group, and rail operator Rio Grande Pacific Corp—said developers are 'ready, willing, and capable of working' with regulators during additional reviews."
Meanwhile, some locals hope Friday's ruling is a step toward killing the project. Jonny Vasic, executive director for Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, said that "the people of Utah can breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end for the Uinta Basin Railway."
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Report Details How Big Ag Overexploitation Is 'Draining the Colorado River Dry'
"We cannot save the Colorado River without combating corporate power."
Aug 08, 2023
As the dwindling Colorado River faces a potential "catastrophic collapse" due to the climate-driven loss of trillions of gallons of water, a report published Tuesday shines a spotlight on the dangerous overexploitation of the precious resource by specific sectors of industrial agriculture—and the federal government's failure to address Big Ag's abuses.
The Food & Water Watch report—entitledBig Ag Is Draining the Colorado River Dry—focuses on how "alfalfa farms and the aggressive proliferation of megadairies" are "sucking the Colorado dry," and on "prolonged governmental refusal to rein in the most egregious offenders."
According to the report, "livestock feed crops remain the largest consumers of water in the Colorado River Basin, accounting for 55% of all water used." Among these, alfalfa "consumed 2.2 trillion gallons of water across the seven basin states in 2022 alone."
"This is enough water to meet the indoor household needs of all the nearly 40 million people who rely on the Colorado River system for water for three-and-a-half years," the publication states.
The paper notes that the Almarai Company, a Saudi multinational, "owns 10,000 acres of Arizona farmland, cultivating alfalfa to support dairies in Saudi Arabia; the country banned alfalfa cultivation in 2018 in order to conserve water."
"We cannot save the Colorado River without combating corporate power," the report asserts. "The Colorado River is deeply in crisis, and the solutions are already known."
The Food & Water Watch publication continues:
The arid U.S. West cannot sustain the factory farm system as water shortages continue. States must immediately de-prioritize wasteful industries such as large-scale alfalfa, nut trees, and megadairies. Each of these only contributes to worsening drought and climate change along the river, and continuing along this path only leads to harming communities and ecosystems that are struggling to survive in a hotter climate.
The report recommends:
- Passing the Farm System Reform Act (FSRA), which would put a moratorium on new and expanding factory farms and help transition dairy farmers away from factory farms;
- Restricting federal conservation dollars from being used to prop up factory farms and alfalfa acreage;
- Limiting alfalfa exports;
- Banning new megadairies and the expansion of existing ones;
- Stopping new and expanding large-scale tree nut and alfalfa acreage;
- Helping transition small and medium-sized growers to more geographically appropriate and resilient crops; and
- Improving water management practices by defining all water as a public trust resource, not a commodity subject to resource extraction at the expense of the public.
"Without drastic changes, the Colorado River Basin will become increasingly unlivable for tens of millions of people across seven states," Food & Water Watch research director Amanda Starbuck said in a statement. "Ultimately, water is a public resource, not a commodity, and should be treated as such."
Food & Water Watch's report comes ahead of an August 15 deadline for public comment on the Biden administration's proposal to cut water allotments to basin states—a plan the group said fails to tackle Big Ag's resource abuse.
The Colorado River historically ran about 1,450 miles from its headwaters high in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado through Utah, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and along Nevada and California's southeastern borders before flowing into the northernmost tip of the Gulf of California in Mexico.
The river—which long sustained Indigenous peoples both before and after the genocidal colonization of the Southwest—provides water to around 40 million people in seven Western states and about 30 Native American tribes.
Western states started allocating the river's water between them in the early 20th century, while massive dams and channels diverted water hundreds of miles away to thirsty desert farms and sprawling cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, and Las Vegas.
"Ultimately, water is a public resource, not a commodity, and should be treated as such."
The Colorado River Compact established annual water allocations that member states must use in full or face usage-based cuts the following year. This "use it or lose it" system has created what critics call "perverse" incentives for farmers to grow nonessential, water-intensive crops like alfalfa and grass for cattle grazing in the middle of the desert.
Around 75% of the Colorado River's flow is currently diverted to irrigate more than 5 million acres of farmland, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Hydroelectric plants along the river also generate more than 12 billion kilowatt hours of annual electricity.
Despite heavier-than-average snow and rainfall last winter, the Colorado River has been running perilously low in recent years as worsening droughts driven by the climate emergency have gripped the Southwest and as the population of the nation's driest region explodes. The river no longer reaches the sea, and models predict that its flow may be further halved by 2100.
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