Why river lovers should oppose water cuts for California farmers ...and why they should support cuts in Colorado and Utah

"Water in transit is life. Water in storage is the opposite."
zakpodmore.substack.com/p/why-river-...
@zakpodmore.bsky.social

RIP to my Grandpa Jack (1924-2026), who died at 101 today while eating chocolate ice cream with a few of his 12 kids. He fought the Nazis in WWII, had a great sense of humor, and came from a “long line of extremely accomplished river-men.” Here he is in his Colorado River t-shirt.

👨‍🍳😗

good question

And like with the Flint water crisis (or so many other preventable disasters) the highly paid, bungling consultants who are to blame will move away and not be punished while working people will be left to suffer

truly

Colorado River management is more complicated and just as incompetent. The hope at the center of my book is that when we reach a similar level of crisis here (possibly later this year!), the 5.5 million acre-feet of water trapped in Lake Powell will become irresistible and the dam will be modified

Corpus Christi careens toward water catastrophe City officials expect to reach a “water emergency” within months and run out of water next year. That would halt jet fuel deliveries to Texas airports, hike gas prices and trigger a local economic dis...

www.texastribune.org/2026/03/08/t...

Crazy story about the “legacy of imbeciles” in Corpus Christi: dreams of desalination, Saudi petro developments, lavish taxpayer-funded parties in Israel, and a city on the brink of collapse as the water runs out.

I’m so sorry, Brooke

A Killing Spree in Utah Rattles a Region and Puzzles Officials

I helped the New York Times cover the bizarre murder spree in Utah’s Wayne County this week

Kris Kristofferson 'In The News' YouTube video by rspaceball

"Burning up the atmosphere and cutting down the trees
The billion dollar bombing of a nation on its knees

See the lightning, hear the cries
Of the wounded in a world in holy war
Mortal thunder from the skies
Killing everything they say they're fighting for"

*between Bluff

Four proposed on the San Juan below Bluff and the confluence! I was only aware of one

Some detail

Dept of Interior map of proposed reservoir sites, 1950. (Every one of those black labels.)

Jesse Jackson YouTube video by Kris Kristofferson - Topic

Hold on brother, Jesse Jackson
There's a better world a'coming
Where a man can hope a man will show some heart
You just keep right on believing
In the better side of human
They ain't ready for it yet, but it's a start youtu.be/_8N2AKdnzeA?...

Winnemucca, I hardly knew ya

I’m about to start train posting again

They’re being nice to me? On Reddit? www.reddit.com/r/Utah/comme...

🧵

(And follow @cowaternerd.bsky.social)

Amen!

As I keep screaming from the rooftop, construction takes time, and we’re out of time! Things only get worse and worse starting around here 3,510’:

Without an incredible change in the trajectory of winter precipitation in the CO Basin this may be the year we see catastrophic collapse of the system and it really feels like we’re just standing on the tracks watching the train saying “we don’t have the legal authority to step off the track”

Even at true dead pool (3,370’), water would still flow through the dam by gravity, so Grand wouldn’t dry up unless outlet tunnels started to cavitate. Flows could get lower than we’ve seen since 1963 though. Motor trips would get more difficult below 5,000 cfs

A lucky someone has the opportunity to swipe right 💕

They will try it again this year, probably with a bigger release. But it won’t solve the problem

They tried that when we were in a similar situation in 2022. 500k acre feet was released from Flaming Gorge, and Lake Powell’s level kept going down. USGS wasn’t even able to determine if the water made it (most was lost to bank seepage).