Can desalination plants solve Colorado River problems?
For more than 100 years, the Colorado River has supported the economies of seven Western states. With climate change making winters drier, that’s no longer possible.
Page, Arizona – In the middle of the desert, there is a sign that says “Be careful, the docks are slippery.”
it’s not.
In fact, there isn’t a drop of water to be seen at Antelope Point Marina, which once sat near the shores of Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir. The sparkling Colorado River now flows along the walls of Glen Canyon some 180 feet below, completely out of sight from the docks that once floated above the water.
Rather than reflecting Arizona’s bright blue skies near the Four Corners region of the southwest, lake levels reflect the dire reality that the Colorado River is running dry. And the marked dock hangs from a 100-foot cliff, waiting for water supplies that climate scientists say will likely never come.
“The situation on the Colorado River is really, really rough. It’s terrible,” said Eric Balken, executive director of Glen Canyon Research Institute. “Everyone is at a point right now where they’re asking, ‘What the hell is going on? What are we doing?'”
Now, public land access groups are proposing a spectacularly ambitious plan to build eight large-scale desalination plants off California’s coastline, turning seawater into freshwater for agriculture and reducing demand on the deteriorating Colorado River. To meet energy needs, plants may need to be equipped with nuclear reactors.
Desalination plants are widely used in the Middle East, but they consume large amounts of electricity to produce relatively small amounts of water. No country has ever attempted anything on this scale.
The Colorado River Basin and seven states that depend on the river for water are facing significant water shortages this summer after an unusually hot and dry winter. Planners with the Idaho-based Blue Ribbon Coalition say their $40 billion proposal offers a viable long-term solution at a time when President Donald Trump is cutting back on environmentally-based regulations and urging the country to think big.
“At some point, we will face the harsh reality that there is no more water in the Colorado River,” said Ben Barr, the coalition’s executive director. “You can only squeeze more juice out of it.”
Some critics say the plan costs nothing and could have devastating effects on the environment.
Undeterred, the Blue Ribbon Coalition is intentionally launching a massive federal effort that built Glen Canyon and Hoover Dam and filled Lake Powell and Lake Mead with Colorado River water. These reservoir projects enabled the United States to prosper in Arizona, Nevada, and California, fueling economic growth, powering cities, and turning dusty deserts into fertile farmland.
The group’s plan is the latest ambitious idea to solve the West’s water problems. Other proposals floated over the decades included towing icebergs from Alaska and Antarctica, diverting rivers from the rainy Pacific Northwest, and even piping water thousands of miles west across the Continental Divide into the Great Lakes.
Peter Goble, Colorado’s assistant state meteorologist, said the ongoing drought is increasing pressure on Western states for solutions. He said the West is warming faster than the country as a whole, which ultimately means less water will be available to farmers, businesses and residents.
“You can’t look at the numbers and think that the Colorado River is doing well right now,” Goble said. “As the world warms, all signs point to droughts becoming more intense and more frequent.”
Drought and interstate disputes threaten river’s future
Seven states work together to manage and use the Colorado River: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
But at the same time, prolonged drought has reduced the amount of water flowing downstream, sparking disputes between states over who gets how much for agriculture, drinking and industry. And a constant amount of water must flow from the two dams so that millions of homes and businesses can produce electricity. Mexican and Native American tribes also have water rights and a say in management.
Although California is at the end of the river, it has the legal right to use more water than any other state, primarily to grow alfalfa to feed cattle. And while California Gov. Gavin Newsom has not endorsed this specific plan, he suggested in a Feb. 11 letter to other Colorado River governors that desalination and other “advanced technologies” may eventually be needed. Newsom’s office did not respond to requests for comment specifically about the Blue Ribbon plan.
“We welcome joint investments in infrastructure, from water reuse to desalination, that can relieve pressure on Lake Powell and Lake Mead’s precious water supplies,” Newsom wrote. “Our reality is clear: We need to make do with less rain and snow each year to provide water to our communities and farms. This is a common reality and requires common solutions.”
Barr said the plants can produce 7 million acre-feet of water. One acre-foot of water, or 325,851 gallons, is equivalent to the amount used by two to three U.S. homes annually. In comparison, growing one acre of alfalfa uses 6 acre-feet of water each year, according to the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
What does the $40 billion plan include?
The Blue Ribbon Plan envisions the following:
- There are eight large desalination plants off the coast of California and Mexico that could be powered by small nuclear power plants of the kind the White House is promoting. Power could also come from solar or wind power, but President Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to kill such projects. Barr estimated that building the factory would cost about $40 billion.
- Power plants could be built on federal lands in the Sea of Cortez and California’s Pacific coast. Doing so can limit environmental obstacles and accelerate construction. Desalination plants work by removing salt from seawater and producing hypersaline water. This water must be diluted before it can be returned to the ocean. Otherwise, it may be toxic to aquatic life.
- The fresh water would be pumped at least 160 miles inland, reaching California’s Imperial Valley. The vast desert is now irrigated with water from the Colorado River, growing crops from alfalfa to lettuce to onions. This “new” water would allow California to relinquish some of its Colorado River allocation to other states for use.
Barr said he believes the plan, which could be privately or publicly funded, is being proposed at the right time. He said the pendulum against overregulation and environmentalism is swinging back in favor of ordinary Americans and business owners, and against environmental groups that would otherwise have blocked the construction of Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
The Blue Ribbon Group’s supporters include companies that would benefit from rising Lake Powell water levels and those that have fought to keep the water levels higher.
“I think you can see that we recognize that we need to build real infrastructure as a country, not just an environmental lawyer employment program,” Barr said. “We need a new real water system.”
Throwing seawater at the problem: ‘It’s just crazy,’ warns expert
Aaron Weiss, deputy director of the Denver-based Western First Center, thinks Blue Ribbon’s plan is laughable. The center advocates for stronger land and water conservation across the West and is bipartisan.
Weiss said the infrastructure needed to bring fresh water from the coast back upstream for farmers is staggeringly expensive, potentially adding tens of billions of dollars to total costs.
“Their solution to the problem is to throw seawater in, which is just crazy,” Weiss said. “No one has ever thought of desalinating water on such a large scale. It’s not bold. It’s just stupid. There’s no way $40 billion is even close to the actual price, based on what we know it costs to desalinate water and move water.”
Among other countries, Israel relies heavily on desalination to meet its drinking and agricultural water needs. However, according to a study by Tel Aviv University, it consumes about 5% of the country’s electricity.
Weiss said there is also great uncertainty about how desalination plants will treat the hypersaline water produced in the process. The Israeli plant mixes the water and returns it to the Mediterranean Sea, diluting it to a level that does not endanger aquatic life.
Like Barr, Weiss said low snowfall across the West this winter is putting pressure on states to find some solutions. During the Biden presidency, the federal government paid farmers billions of dollars to stop growing crops like alfalfa and free up water for other uses. But that funding is temporary, and the Trump administration is asking states to find long-term solutions.
Federal forecasters are warning that this year could be the worst year on record for Lake Powell’s water levels due to low snowfall and a warm winter. As of mid-March, the lake’s surface was 3,529 feet above sea level, down from its most recent high of 3,587 feet in 2024. Some forecasters worry that the lake could lose so much water this year that it could reach the minimum level needed to continue producing hydroelectric power, the so-called “power pool.”
The lake reached its all-time high of 3,708 feet above sea level in 1983 and has never been full since. A white “bathtub ring” remains visible from its high water mark.
According to the University of California Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, forcing farmers to cut back on water use could raise the cost of food for Americans, but some environmental groups say the solution is to grow less alfalfa, which is sold as herds to China, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Barr said it’s foolish to pay farmers who don’t grow crops, and that money could be better spent creating more water. he asked.
But Weiss said conservation is the quickest and easiest way to reduce water use. He said the Blue Ribbon project will take decades to complete, but the Colorado River is currently in crisis.
“At the end of the day, fundamental physics takes over,” Weiss says. “Our only solution is to ensure we have a proactive way out of this situation.”
Balken, who runs the Glen Canyon Research Institute, is pushing ahead with plans to completely remove the 710-foot-tall Glen Canyon Dam, or at least retrofit it so that all Lake Powell water flows downstream to Lake Mead. Ultimately, the institute hopes to see the Colorado River return to its natural state through Glen Canyon.
“Given the low snowpack and the heat wave that’s trying to destroy the snowpack, we’re seeing the worst runoff in history at probably the worst time in history. We’re almost certainly going to see some kind of impact on Lake Powell in the near future,” Balken said. “This may be unprecedented, but it’s the most predictable disaster ever. We’ve known this moment was coming for 20 years.”
