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The week in brief · Week 41 · 5–11 October
The first full week of October showed clearly where the water sector is under pressure and where the money is going. The Colorado River and the Rio Grande ran at historic lows, and gauges along Hungary's stretch of the Danube broke records almost everywhere. Meanwhile the week's financing decisions, in Arizona, Azerbaijan, Spain and Buenos Aires, all pointed the same way: towards new supply and the companies that build it.
In early October Lake Powell stood at 3,518 feet, less than a quarter full and below its previous all-time low of 2023. At that rate it could reach minimum power pool, the point at which Glen Canyon Dam can no longer run its turbines, by early 2027. Lake Mead set its own record low in August. Around 40 million people in seven states depend on the river, and over the past 25 years withdrawals have exceeded inflows by an average of 1 million acre-feet a year. Agriculture takes 52% of the water; cities have cut their use by 18% since 2000 despite population growth.
The rules are running out as fast as the water. The current operating guidelines expire at the end of 2026, the seven basin states have still not agreed on what replaces them, and the Interior Department's own framework would require the lower basin to cut use by 21% over the next two years and by as much as 40% a year through 2036. Nevada has already sued.
