James river water level full#

“There was much more water in the river after that rain, and there was more rain upstream, which adds to the flow,” said NWS meteorologist Bob Fogarty. The river, which was a little more than 3 feet (90 centimeters) deep at the start of the week, reached more than 5 feet (1.5 meters) on Thursday, and the water was flowing five times faster than usual, according to the National Weather Service. It is one of the deadliest drownings on the U.S.-Mexico border in recent history. officials recovered six bodies, while Mexican teams recovered three, according to a CBP statement. Customs and Border Protection and Mexican officials discovered the victims near Eagle Pass, Texas, on Thursday, following days of heavy rains.

But during the severe dry spell over the past 22 years in the Colorado River Basin, hotter temperatures triggered by accumulating greenhouse gases have intensified the dryness across the watershed.Officials on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border searched for more victims Saturday after at least nine migrants died while trying to cross the rain-swollen Rio Grande river, a dangerous border-crossing attempt in an area where the water level had risen by more than 2 feet in a single day. Most of the river’s flow begins as snow and rainfall in the Rocky Mountains. Some tribes have also agreed to leave a portion of their water supplies in Lake Mead in exchange for compensation. Some previous water-saving arrangements have involved paying growers to temporarily fallow land. “That’s what we’re working towards.”Įxactly how reductions will be achieved has yet to be negotiated. “Let’s get to the table, and let’s figure this out by August,” Touton said. Those projections determine the level of the shortage in 2023 and the severity of the required cuts in deliveries. The timeline that Touton laid out, to come up with an agreement for water reductions within 60 days, puts the deadline just before the Bureau of Reclamation is scheduled to release its mid-August projections for reservoir levels on the river.

James river water level full#

Lake Mead near Las Vegas has dropped to 28% of its full capacity, while Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border is now just 27% full. The push for a new emergency deal to cope with the Colorado River’s shrinking flow comes just seven months after officials from California, Arizona and Nevada signed an agreement to take significantly less water out of Lake Mead, and six weeks after the federal government announced it is holding back a large quantity of water in Lake Powell to reduce risks of the reservoir dropping to a point where Glen Canyon Dam would no longer generate electricity.ĭespite those efforts and a previous deal among the states to share in the shortages, the two reservoirs stand at or near record-low levels. The needed cuts, she said, amount to between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet next year.įor comparison, California is entitled to 4.4 million acre-feet of Colorado River water per year, while Arizona’s allotment is 2.8 million. Managers say they plan to let some grass turn brown.

Southern California golf courses are being told to cut water use under new drought rules. For Subscribers SoCal’s lush golf courses face new water restrictions.