Monthly Meeting - Colorado River: 21st Century Challenges with Bradley Udall

In October, Bradley Udall will join us for his talk, "Colorado River: 21st Century Challenges."

The Colorado River supplies water to every major city in the American Southwest and irrigates about 4.5 m acres of important cropland. Half of the water used in Colorado’s Front Range comes from the Colorado River. Since 2000, flows in the Colorado River have been down by nearly 20% and the nation’s two largest reservoirs, Lakes Mead and Powell, have lost nearly 2/3rds of their combined contents reaching less than 30% full early this year. Scientists have attributed up to half of the flow decline on human caused climate change. Earlier this year, the federal Bureau of Reclamation announced that unprecedented water delivery reductions of 15 to 30% will be needed next year to protect reservoir elevations and system reliability. How did we get to this difficult position, what does the science tell us about future flows, and how might the system change over the coming years?

Bradley H. Udall is a Senior Water and Climate Research Scientist / Scholar at Colorado State University’s Colorado Water Center. His expertise includes hydrology and related policy issues of the American West, with a focus on the Colorado River. Brad was a co-author of the 2009 and 2019 United States National Climate Assessments. Brad has testified in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives on the impacts of climate change of water resources. He has written extensively on the causes of the declining Colorado River flows and on the ongoing aridification of the Western US. Brad has an engineering degree from Stanford and an MBA from Colorado State University.

SCHEDULE

We will serve appetizers from 4:00 to 4:30, then start the program. A small donation is suggested for the food, and wine will be served for a $3 donation. The program will include announcements and a Humanist Moment before the presentation begins.

We hope to see you at 4:00 pm, on Sunday, October 23rd, at Jefferson Unitarian Church! It is an in-person-only event.

This program is hosted by Jefferson Humanists, a chapter of the American Humanist Association.
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“No water, no life. No blue, no green.” – Sylvia Earle

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