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• Board Meeting Date: 7/11/2007
• Description: CWCB Director's Report
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

currently losing 1.4 Maf per year, and contains only 10 years of water at this rate of loss
because the Lower Basin state have grown accustomed to using excess water from the
Upper Basin, water that may not be there in the future under either climate variability
or under climate change. According to Reclamation modeling, even under average
historical hydrology Lake Mead never refills and Lake Powell takes decades to refill.
With climate change the picture is even more troubling."

Mr. Fulp testified, "As the predictive capabilities of climate change models improve,
western water resource management is looking to where and how to incorporate new
climate change information.... Reclamation is evaluating methodologies for
incorporating climate change...into its west-wide operations. Fortunately, Reclamation
already possesses operational flexibility to respond to hydrologic change and fulfill its
mission to deliver water and power in the West. Drought, flood, and wide climate
variability are all common occurrences in the western United States." He reported on
activities of a Climate Change Task Force convened by Secretary Kempthorne and
chaired by Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett, as well as interagency federal partnerships.
He added, "We also continue to work with our water users to institute improved water
management and conservation in order to be better prepared for any possible future
impacts associate with climate change. Our Water 2025 and Water Conservation Field
Services Program, as well as current processes to analyze shortage sharing and
coordinated water operations in the Colorado River Basin, all are important in this
effort.... [W]e believe that these activities will make Reclamation well-equipped to adapt
to climate change impacts if and when they bring about new hydrologic regimes within
the river basins of the West."

For copies of all the testimony, go to http://energy.senate.gov and click of Hearing
Schedule, then Hearing List.

Landsat Data: Seven western senators signed a June 8 letter to the Senate
Appropriations Committee asking that $35 million be included in FY 2008 for NASA's
Landsat Data Continuity Mission for the addition of a thermal sensor on Landsat 8.

A "Dear Colleague" letter from Senators Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Mike Crapo (R-ID)
requesting support for Landsat as a critical tool for water resource managers, was sent
to all western Senators. It drew the support of Senators Max Baucus (D-MT), Jeff
Bingaman (D-NM), Tim Johnson (D-SD), John Thune (R-SD), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Some western Senators, including members of the Appropriations Committee,
expressed their support for the request, but did not sign the letter. Others may still add
their endorsement.

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