About 40 million people get water from the Colorado River. Studies show it's drying up.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

PHOENIX – Scientists have documented how climate change is sapping the Colorado River, and new research shows the river is so sensitive to warming that it could lose about one-fourth of its flow by 2050 as temperatures continue to climb.

Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey found that the loss of snowpack due to higher temperatures plays a major role in driving the trend of the river’s dwindling flow. They estimated that warmer temperatures were behind about half of the 16% decline in the river’s flow during the stretch of drought years from 2000-2017, a drop that has forced Western states to adopt plans to boost the Colorado’s water-starved reservoirs.

Without changes in precipitation, the researchers said, for each additional 1.8 degrees of warming, the Colorado River’s average flow is likely to drop by about 9%.

The USGS scientists considered two scenarios of climate change. In one, warmer temperatures by 2050 would reduce the amount of water flowing in the river by 14-26%. In the other scenario, warming would take away 19-31% of the river’s flow.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/about-40-million-people-get-water-from-the-colorado-river-studies-show-its-drying-up/ar-BB10h3Hu?li=BBnb7Kz

[CrispyQ]

1. Six billion miracles is enough.

I bought that bumper sticker back at the turn of the century.