A new analysis of reservoirs on the Colorado River shows water managers were able to hold on to a lot of the runoff from 2023’s wet winter. Last year, the region did a better job of storing snowmelt than any other year in the past decade.
The vast majority of water that supplies 40 million people from Wyoming to Mexico starts as snow in the Rocky Mountains. New data shows just how much of that snow is staying in storage, and helping cut back on anxiety for cities and farms across the Southwest.
"Water managers resisted the temptation to use more water because suddenly we had this big influx of supply. And instead, we did the right thing, which was to save the water rather than use it just because we had it," said Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University.
He also says it’s imperative to reduce demand and keep doing that kind of conservation, especially because wet years like 2023 are getting more rare due to climate change.