PERMANENT FORECAST FOR ARIZONA: HOT, DRY

posted by Michael Chihak

Much of Arizona got a reprieve from the drought last month. No, it wasn't a big cloudburst that suddenly filled the dry arroyos and riverbeds, not to mention the once huge lakes -- Mead and Powell -- on the Colorado River.

The reprieve came in the form of a political/bureaucratic/water management decision to allow 40.5 percent more water to flow out of Lake Powell down the Colorado and into Lake Mead and beyond. From there, Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico can use more water.

The increased flow is the result of a 4-year-old river management system agreed to by the states that use Colorado River water. It's administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which has concluded based on last winter's big snow pack in the upper basin that there will be enough water.

For five years.

That means the lower basin states and Mexico get their agreed-upon allocations, without having to endure cutbacks and the possibility of rationing, for the next five years.

What will happen after that? Rainfall, the future snow pack, population growth and other factors will determine it. But one thing is for certain.

We'll still be in a desert.

Arizona Week on Friday at 8:30 p.m. MST on PBS-HD will delve into short-term water management and supply issues and the long-term outlook.