American Rivers’ Policy Statement on Colorado River Management

The Colorado River continues to make headlines nationwide as the impacts of nearly three decades of drought are felt by the 40 million people reliant on the river. At the same time, the seven states within the Colorado River basin tasked with managing the river are at an impasse, following years of negotiations, regarding how the river will be managed after the existing guidelines expire in 2026.

The challenges facing the Colorado River are also attracting attention in Washington D.C. American Rivers’ President and CEO Tom Kiernan testified before Congress during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing on the state of the river. The focus of the hearing was the status of the management negotiations, the impacts of the most recent water year with its historically low snowpack, and what solutions are possible moving forward.

How did we get here?

The largest reservoirs in the Colorado River system, Lakes Powell and Mead, sit at historically low levels – well below what is needed to support the $1.4 economy of the basin. Water is needed to produce hydropower, support diverse industries from agriculture to recreation, and provide drinking water for communities throughout the intermountain west. Treasured landscapes like the Grand Canyon and critical habitat for unique fish populations are also dependent on the river and its flows, which are in a state critical decline. Forecasted inflows to Powell for the critical April-through-July runoff window are projected at just a fraction of the long-term median. As water supplies continue to drop, the Colorado River crisis has a cascading effect that spreads through agricultural and industrial production, local jobs, national supply chains, and ultimately grocery  and utility bills. It impacts major economic and national security assets as well as iconic landscapes that are part of our nation’s natural heritage.

For the last several years, the seven states that make up the Colorado River Basin – Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming – have been negotiating the future operating rules for managing the river’s two largest reservoirs. Without a plan in place for the 2027 water year and beyond, the basin enters a period of profound operational uncertainty.

The Bureau of Reclamation recently shared the agency’s proposal for how the Basin can move forward. It includes a ten-year framework that issues operating guidelines in two-year intervals under current conditions, absent a seven-state agreement. Reclamation’s proposal is a constructive step forward as it provides more structure and predictability than the Basin has had in recent years and recognizes the need for adaptive management as conditions change. But the goal cannot be to manage from crisis-to-crisis. The Basin needs solutions that move beyond recurring emergency response and towards long-term resilience.

The path forward:

At American Rivers, we believe there are solutions to address the crisis facing the Colorado River. Meeting this moment demands coordinated, adequately funded solutions that reduce near-term risk and build lasting resilience. We were pleased to join over 75 disparate stakeholders from across the Colorado River Basin — agricultural producers, municipal water providers, conservation organizations, Tribal Nations, hydropower utilities, and local communities — in asking for significant federal investment to stabilize the system, reduce immediate risks, and create conditions for a more reliable water future. These funds would invest in projects and programs that benefit water users over the long-term and strengthen economies, Tribes, and natural and built infrastructure of the Colorado River.

Already, American Rivers is working to implement these solutions by:

• Restoring our forests, watersheds, rivers, wetlands, and floodplains that add reliability to water supplies and protect downstream infrastructure. Projects like the Grand Mesa Watershed Resiliency Project, which developed a post-wildfire action plan to identify, reduce and mitigate risks to important watersheds on the Grand Mesa by thinning and using prescribed fire for forest management and restoring small creeks and wet meadows on the Mesa to improve floodplain reconnection.
• Modernizing and improving infrastructure that permanently reduce water demand and improve drought resilience. Agricultural projects like the Irrigators in the Vicinity of Kremmling or the Uncompahgre River Multi-benefit Project which both upgraded and modernized irrigation infrastructure for ranchers while also improving instream habitat. Municipal projects like turf removal and water reuse are taking hold across the Basin.
• Creating flexible water tools and sharing agreements that allow water to be conserved, stored, or shared in ways that maintain system stability, improve water security, and respect existing water rights and priorities. Programs like Intentionally Created Surplus in the Lower Basin and Upper Basin contributions like Utah’s Demand Management Pilot Program are illustrating how water can be conserved and stored for system stability and future use. Additionally, the Memorandum of Understanding between Lower Basin entities exploring a pathway that would allow agencies to partner across state borders on desalination, recycled water and other water supply projects that would benefit multiple states is an innovative way to consider water sharing.

These and other solutions are already putting the Basin on a track towards a more durable future, but we can’t scale the collaboration, infrastructure improvements, and restoration projects needed to improve Basin-wide resilience without reliable funding and clear operational guidelines that prioritize the long-term. Existing drought conditions make the future uncertain enough for water users in the Colorado River Basin – future guidelines and investments must provide stability, clarity, and security.