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<br />On 'i 5"', '.) <br />U.L ) <br /> <br />926 <br /> <br />ECOLOGY lAW QUARTERLY <br /> <br />[Vol. 28:903 <br /> <br />II <br />INCREASING DEMANDS ON THE COLORADO RNER <br /> <br />A. Population Growth and Groundwater Overdraft <br /> <br />As the demands on the Colorado River increase, it will become <br />more difficult to secure flows for the Delta. Two critical pressures <br />on the water of the Colorado River are population growth and the <br />chronic overdraft of groundwater. In.the Lower Basin alone, more <br />than 23 million people currently rely on the Colorado for their <br />water supplies. 137 However, by 2025, California alone is projected <br />to grow by 16 million people. and the population of areas seIVed <br />by Colorado River water in Arizona and Nevada is expected to <br />double.138 To make matters worse, much of this population <br />currently relies on groundwater, which is in a state of overdraft <br />throughout the region.139 Arizona, for example, has "witnessed an <br />exponential increase in groundwater withdrawals," 140 with <br />withdrawals exceeding recharge by more than 2.5 maf,141 and a <br />trend towards higher per-capita use of water.142 In Southern <br />Nevada, the exponential growth of the Las Vegas metropolitan <br />area has caused demand for water that far outstrips projected <br />supplies.143 To avoid the inevitable exhaustion of groundwater, <br />the Southem Nevada Water Authority has filed for rights to more <br /> <br />137. See JASON I. MORRISON ET AL.. THE SUSTAINABLE USE OF WATER IN THE LoWER <br />COLORADO RlVERBASIN 10 (1996). <br />138. SeePoNTlUs, supra note 3. at 27. <br />139. See MORRISON ET AL., supra note 137. <br />140. Robert J. Glennon & Thomas Maddock, III, In Search of Subjlow: Arizona's <br />Futile Effort to Separate Groundwater from Surface Water, 36 ARIz. L. REv. 567, 592 <br />(1994). <br />141. Colorado River Water Users Association, Arizona at a Glance: Colorado River <br />ProjUe (2001), athttp://crwua.mwd.dst.ca.us/az/crwua_az.htm. <br />142. Dan Tarlock & Sarah B. Van de Wetering, Growth Management and Western <br />Water Law From Urban Oases to Archipelagos, 5 HAsTINGS W.-N.W. J. ENVfL. L. & <br />POL'y 163, 169 (1999). Arizona alone has taken the first steps. recently passing the <br />nation's first comprehensive groundwater law; however, to make the Groundwater <br />Management Act politically palatable. the Act grandfathered in existing rights. Since <br />withdrawals were already in excess of recharge, there is thus little hope that the Act <br />will achieve its goal of "safe yield." even in heavily regulated areas. See generally <br />Robert J. Glennon, "Because That's Where the Water Is"; Retiring Current Water Uses <br />to Achieve the Safe-Yield Objective of the Arizona Groundwater Management Act, 33 <br />ARIz. L. REv. 89 (199"1). Regardless, Arizona's population, like others relying on <br />mining groundwater, will eventually be forced to either reduce its overall water use. <br />increase its use of surface water. or (most likely) both. See MORRISON, supra note 137, <br />at 26. <br />143. See Mike Davis. Las Vegas Versus Nature, in REOPENING THE AMERICAN WEST <br />55 (Hal K. Rothman ed., 1998). Groundwater pumping in the Las Vegas area has led <br />to noticeable subsidence in the city center. Id. <br /> <br />I <br />i. <br />