VOA慢速英语--美国西部各州面临着干旱威胁

Two large lakes in the western United States have white rings around them. These circles show how sharply water levels are dropping. They are a warning that the 40 million people who use water from the Colorado River face a much drier future.

The Colorado River supplies seven U.S. states and Mexico. The seven states are Colorado, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. People use its water in large U.S. cities such as Denver, Las Vegas, and Phoenix².

Colby Pellegrino is with the Southern Nevada Water Authority. He told The Associated Press: "The future of the river is going to be drier than the past. All the climate models and the current drought suggest that," he said. "Every sector³ is going to have to learn how to do more with less."

Many laws and agreements govern the use of the Colorado River's water. In 1944, for example, the United States signed a treaty with Mexico to guide water sharing between the two countries.

But even within the U.S., there are different agreements on how water is used. Twenty-two tribes in the Colorado River Basin have water rights that have been confirmed by courts, notes the Congressional Research Service. These agreements allocate⁴ – or divide and give out – amounts of water.

The Colorado River supplies enough water for 15% of total U.S. crop output and 13% of total livestock⁵ production. It also supplies Lake Mead⁶ and Lake Powell – the two largest man-made reservoirs in the United States.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation⁷ oversees⁸ much of the Colorado River's water supplies. It recently released estimates that suggest Lake Powell and Lake Mead will drop 5 meters and 1.5 meters, respectively, by January 2021. The numbers are in comparison to water levels in January 2020.

Even with the drop, Lake Mead's levels will likely stay above the point at which water cuts take place in Arizona and Nevada. In other words, officials will have more time to prepare for when such cuts may be necessary.

Since 1990, the population of the Las Vegas area has more than tripled. Las Vegas gets nearly 90% of its water from the Colorado River. But the area has been able to use far less water than it is allocated⁹.

The Las Vegas area has done this by reusing almost all water used indoors and replacing nearly 790,000 square kilometers of grass with desert-friendly plants.

In other areas, officials are working to find different water sources for growing cities and farms. In Arizona, where nearly 40% of the water supply comes from the Colorado River, officials need to find other water sources, notes Ted¹ Cooke of the Central Arizona Project.

Once Lake Mead's water levels sink low enough, Arizona will have the most painful cuts of any state based on a priority list — first rural farmers, then eventually cities.

"It's at least a couple of decades until we're saying, ‘We don't have one more drop for the next person that comes here,'" he said. "But people certainly ought to be aware that water... is expensive and, with climate change, going to get even more expensive."

I'm John Russell.

Words in This Story

sector – n. an area or part of something; a part of an economy that includes certain jobs

livestock – n. farm animals

reservoir – n. a large lake that is used to supply water

triple – v. to become three times as great or as many

priority – n. something that is more important than other things and that needs to be done or dealt with first

decade – n. a period of 10 years

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

5 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

6 mead   

n.蜂蜜酒

参考例句：

• He gave me a cup of mead.他给我倒了杯蜂蜜酒。
• He drank some mead at supper.晚饭时他喝了一些蜂蜜酒。

7 reclamation   

n.开垦；改造；（废料等的）回收

参考例句：

• We should encourage reclamation and recycling.我们应当鼓励废物的回收和利用。
• The area is needed for a land reclamation project.一个土地开垦项目要在这一地区进行。

8 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

9 allocated   

adj. 分配的 动词allocate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The Ford Foundation allocated millions of dollars for cancer research. 福特基金会拨款数百万美元用于癌症研究。
• More funds will now be allocated to charitable organizations. 现在会拨更多的资金给慈善组织。