Posted: 6:35 AM Dec 13, 2012
Reporter: Associated Press

Colorado River water report released in Vegas

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Rising demand and falling supply have water managers in the arid West projecting that the Colorado River won't be able to meet the demands over the next 50 years of a population of 40 million people and growing.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Wednesday issued what he termed "a call to action" along with a three-year study of the river, its flows and its ability to meet the future needs of city-dwellers, Native Americans, businesses, ranchers and farmers in seven Western states.

The study found the population in the West could double, while today's drought-stricken Colorado River is expected to only recover about 85 percent of its historic flows.

The report dismisses some proposals, such as towing icebergs from Alaska, as impractical.

But Salazar says there is "no one solution" to the challenge.

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