The Colorado River Basin is currently experiencing its worst drought in recorded history. The period from 2000 through 2020 is the driest 21-year period in over 100 years and one of the driest periods in the 1,200-year paleo-record. Drought impacts include worsening conditions in the 9 ecoregions, including habitat for several threatened and endangered species, wildland fire risks, reduced snowpack, changes in water availability and agricultural production; reduced recreation opportunities at National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and Conservation areas; and impacts to over 20 Tribes for whom the basin is a physical, economic, and cultural resource.
The Colorado River Basin Pilot Project
The Colorado River Basin Pilot Project is exploring new approaches for the USGS to answer complex earth systems science questions identified in partnership with stakeholders, which cannot be answered through a single discipline approach.
Drought in the Colorado River Basin
The USGS together with partners and stakeholders are working together to understand the complexity of drought impacts and compounding hazards, such as climate change on human and natural systems.
Connect
A multidisciplinary team of experts is working to determine how the USGS can develop integrative science, data, models, and tools that can be used to address key science challenges related to drought risk within the Colorado River Basin.
The complexity of issues facing the Colorado River Basin ecosystem and earth science aspects requires the USGS to have an interdisciplinary science approach, coordinating with multiple USGS mission areas, regional office, science centers, and non-USGS science partners to inform a broad base of decision makers. Contact the Rocky Mountain Region to learn more about these efforts.
Today’s Earth system challenges are far more complex and urgent than those that existed in 1879 when the USGS was established. Society’s greatest challenges are directly or indirectly linked to major areas of USGS science. This Science Strategy defines a vision and mission for how we will continue to evolve USGS Science to address these Earth system challenges.
U.S. Geological Survey 21st-Century science strategy 2020–2030 (usgs.gov)
Below are links to other science projects associated with this project.
USGS Integrated Drought Science Plan
Forecasting Total Dissolved Solids Concentrations of Groundwater from the Lower Colorado Water Supply Project
Next Generation Water Observing System: Upper Colorado River Basin
Upper Colorado River Streamflow and Reservoir Contents
GCMRC Data, Web Applications, and Tools
High-Flow Experiments on the Colorado River
Colorado River Basin Focus Area Study
Lower Colorado River Monthly Data Report
Lake Powell Coring
Colorado Plateau Regional Groundwater Availability
NAWQA Upper Colorado River Basin Study
Science in the Colorado River Basin
Invertebrate Drift Downstream of Colorado River Basin Dams
- Overview
The Colorado River Basin is currently experiencing its worst drought in recorded history. The period from 2000 through 2020 is the driest 21-year period in over 100 years and one of the driest periods in the 1,200-year paleo-record. Drought impacts include worsening conditions in the 9 ecoregions, including habitat for several threatened and endangered species, wildland fire risks, reduced snowpack, changes in water availability and agricultural production; reduced recreation opportunities at National Parks, Wildlife Refuges, and Conservation areas; and impacts to over 20 Tribes for whom the basin is a physical, economic, and cultural resource.
The Colorado River Basin Pilot Project
The Colorado River Basin Pilot Project is exploring new approaches for the USGS to answer complex earth systems science questions identified in partnership with stakeholders, which cannot be answered through a single discipline approach.
Drought in the Colorado River Basin
The USGS together with partners and stakeholders are working together to understand the complexity of drought impacts and compounding hazards, such as climate change on human and natural systems.
ConnectA multidisciplinary team of experts is working to determine how the USGS can develop integrative science, data, models, and tools that can be used to address key science challenges related to drought risk within the Colorado River Basin.
The complexity of issues facing the Colorado River Basin ecosystem and earth science aspects requires the USGS to have an interdisciplinary science approach, coordinating with multiple USGS mission areas, regional office, science centers, and non-USGS science partners to inform a broad base of decision makers. Contact the Rocky Mountain Region to learn more about these efforts.
Today’s Earth system challenges are far more complex and urgent than those that existed in 1879 when the USGS was established. Society’s greatest challenges are directly or indirectly linked to major areas of USGS science. This Science Strategy defines a vision and mission for how we will continue to evolve USGS Science to address these Earth system challenges.
U.S. Geological Survey 21st-Century science strategy 2020–2030 (usgs.gov)
- Science
Below are links to other science projects associated with this project.
USGS Integrated Drought Science Plan
The USGS National Integrated Drought Science Plan seeks to improve understanding of drought processes and impacts on human and natural systems through coordinated and multidisciplinary data collection, synthesis, analysis, and predictions generated from Mission Areas and a variety of partnerships. The long-term goal is to provide decision support tools and technologies to stakeholders for...ByFilter Total Items: 19Forecasting Total Dissolved Solids Concentrations of Groundwater from the Lower Colorado Water Supply Project
The USGS seeks to increase understanding of the groundwater system in the vicinity of the Lower Colorado Water Supply Project well field and to estimate future groundwater levels and total dissolved solids concentrations in the wells and the long-term viability of the Lower Colorado Water Supply Project.Next Generation Water Observing System: Upper Colorado River Basin
The Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) provides high-fidelity, real-time data on water quantity, quality, and use to support modern prediction and decision-support systems that are necessary for informing water operations on a daily basis and decision-making during water emergencies. The headwaters of the Colorado and Gunnison River Basins provide an opportunity to implement NGWOS in a...Upper Colorado River Streamflow and Reservoir Contents
These reports summarize monthly data for selected rivers and reservoirs in the the Upper Colorado River Basin.GCMRC Data, Web Applications, and Tools
The Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center offers a collection of data resources and online tools -- including web maps, applications, and other content -- that convey scientific information related to on-going monitoring of the Colorado River. Some applications are a culmination of long-term monitoring work, while others are developed around more a specific set of information usually derived...High-Flow Experiments on the Colorado River
Glen Canyon Dam has altered flow and fine sediment (sand, silt, and clay) dynamics of the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Before the dam, the Colorado River experienced highly variable flows and carried a large amount of sediment through Grand Canyon, which maintained sandbars (highly valued camping areas in Grand Canyon) and provided sand that protected archeological and cultural sites from...Colorado River Basin Focus Area Study
As one of several Focus Area Studies within the USGS National Water Census (NWC), the USGS has completed a 3-year study of water availability and use in the Colorado River Basin.Lower Colorado River Monthly Data Report
The Yuma Field Office produces a monthly report of provisional flow data for the Lower Colorado River, its tributaries, and selected diversion and return flow sites. Many of the locations included in the data report are a part of Reclamation’s Decree Accounting Record to comply with Article V of the Decree of the Supreme Court of the United States in Arizona v. California dated March 9, 1964...Lake Powell Coring
In response to the August 5, 2015, Gold King Mine Spill from the Bonita Peak Mining District that resulted in the release of three-million gallons of mine-impacted waters, the Utah Water Science Center, in partnership with the Utah Division of Water Quality, National Park Service, and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, cored the San Juan and Colorado River deltas in multiple locations in Lake Powell...Colorado Plateau Regional Groundwater Availability
Study goals This project seeks to quantify the status of groundwater as an integrated resource with surface water in the arid and semiarid region of the Colorado Plateau principal aquifer system. Surface-water resources that originate in this region are over allocated and serve 35 million people, 4.5 million acres of farmland, and are used to generate 12 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in...NAWQA Upper Colorado River Basin Study
The USGS implemented the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program in 1991 to support national, regional, and local information needs and decisions related to water-quality management and policy. Shaped by and coordinated with ongoing efforts of other Federal, State, and local agencies, the NAWQA Program is designed to answer: What is the condition of our Nation’s streams and ground water...Science in the Colorado River Basin
The Colorado River is one of the longest rivers in the Western United States. It begins in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and flows southwestward until it reaches Mexico where it becomes a small stream or dry riverbed. The Colorado River forms the border between southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. In Nevada, Hoover Dam and Davis Dam control the flow of the river and create two...Invertebrate Drift Downstream of Colorado River Basin Dams
Aquatic invertebrates are critical food for fish and other species that inhabit large rivers. In the Colorado River Basin, invertebrates that get transported down the river (“in the drift”) are particularly important to rainbow trout and other species of interest to recreational users. This research seeks to compare rivers downstream of large dams throughout the Colorado River Basin in order to... - Data
- Publications