The Bureau of Reclamation released a report detailing historical natural losses along the lower Colorado River, focusing on evaporation and transpiration processes.
The Mainstream Evaporation and Riparian Evapotranspiration report examines water surface evaporation, soil moisture evaporation and plant transpiration, providing data for managing regional water operations and enhancing modeling efforts.
The report highlights that approximately 1.3 million acre-feet (an acre-foot is 325,851 gallons) of water is lost annually along the lower Colorado River mainstream, with around 860,000 acre-feet lost to evaporation from Lake Mead to the Mexican border. An additional 445,000 acre-feet were lost to evaporation and transpiration from natural vegetation and habitats.
