Protecting Rivers & Your Clean Water
The Colorado is America’s Most Endangered River
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
April 17, 2013 | Climate Change, Most Endangered Rivers, Water Supply
Mark Twain once said, “Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt.” His words ring true today about another river, the Colorado, that many call the lifeblood of the West. In some places the Colorado River is drained dry, in others its flows are so depleted and manipulated that fish and wildlife are federally listed as “endangered,” and in yet others more dam/diversion/pipeline projects are proposed that would drain the last legally allowed drops of water out of the river.
Read more »Announcing America’s Most Endangered Rivers of 2013
Amy Souers Kober, Senior Director of Communications
April 17, 2013 | Climate Change, Most Endangered Rivers, Water Supply
For thirty years, our America’s Most Endangered Rivers report has highlighted urgent threats to rivers and has spurred the public to take action. Through the report, we have helped sound the alarm on hundreds of rivers, saving them from threats like pollution and new dams.
The river at the top of the 2013 list, announced today, is the Colorado River – a river that is so dammed, diverted, and drained that it dries to a trickle before reaching the sea.
Read more »Water Management Could Become Game of Hardball
Matt Niemerski, Director, Western Water Policy
April 12, 2013 | Climate Change, Water Supply
As drought continues to loom over much of the Colorado River Basin reservoir capacities are at critically low levels. With the upcoming year not looking at all well for water users in the basin, the questions will turn very quickly to how we will manage this resource through a crisis.
Read more »Don't Suck the Fraser River Dry
Matt Rice, Director, Colorado Conservation
February 12, 2013 | Climate Change, Water Supply
Denver Water already sucks 60% of the annual flows from the Fraser River, and they now want to take more: another 15%. Sign the Defend the Colorado petition today and tell Denver that before they take more water, they need to protect the Fraser River. Tell Denver Water: Don’t Suck the Fraser River Dry!
Read more »Communities Evaluate Wild and Scenic as Tool to Protect the Crystal River
Matt Rice, Director, Colorado Conservation
January 10, 2013 | Wild and Scenic Rivers, Most Endangered Rivers
A couple of months ago communities along the Crystal River in Colorado gathered in Redstone, CO and Carbondale, CO to discuss the appropriateness of a Wild Scenic Designation to protect the river from new dam and trans-basin diversion projects. Four panelists with experience working to designate Wild and Scenic Rivers in Colorado and throughout the country spoke about various aspects of the law, challenges faced in designation, and recreational, ecological, economic benefits of designation.
Read more »Colorado River Study: Will There Be Enough Water To Support The Demand?
Matt Niemerski, Director, Western Water Policy
December 13, 2012 | Water Supply, Climate Change
Yesterday, The Bureau of Reclamation issued its Final Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study. Authorized by Congress through the Secure Water Act of 2009 and jointly funded and prepared by the Bureau of Reclamation and the seven Colorado River Basin states – that projects water supply and demand imbalances throughout the Colorado River Basin and adjacent areas over the next 50 years.
Read more »Glimpses of the Colorado River
Matt Niemerski, Director, Western Water Policy
November 28, 2012 | Water Supply
It is said that each journey begins with one step and that a flood begins with a trickle of water. Over the past couple of weeks the Colorado River may have taken two small, but not insignificant steps, towards becoming something like the mighty Colorado explored by John Wesley Powell over 100 years ago.
Read more »