On the Water Front

Learning from shared scarcity: the Colorado River, the Yellow River and the world

One of the largest rivers in the world struggles to reach the ocean. Spread across a huge slice of a continent, its basin supports millions. Yet the weight of its work to irrigate and power booming farms and cities in an increasingly arid zone is straining the river to a breaking point. For many working in the western water space, this describes the Colorado. A river whose over-work and over-allocation, despite its fundamental role in sustaining life for half a continent, seems in many ways singular.  

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Drops of wisdom for Colorado legislators

The Colorado legislative session has begun at a key time for water in Colorado and the west. Though we’re off to a solid snow year, the Colorado River is crashing and the prolonged drought we’re in requires improvements to how we manage water. Fortunately, both Speaker McCluskie and Senate President Fenberg have prioritized water for their chambers. And while advancing water law and policy at the capitol is notoriously complex and fraught, we hope other members of the general assembly will follow the footsteps of their leadership. Unfortunately, there’s no quick solution to fix water scarcity in Colorado; that means we must begin engaging the multitude of issues required to tackle this challenge immediately. So, EDF has put together the following guiding principles to help legislators create the most durable, multi-faceted solutions for Colorado water management and law-making.                                                                                                           Read More »

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Colorado scores two more #WaterWins to help address worsening drought and capture federal funds

As Colorado’s drought worsens with the snowpack melting at a ridiculous rate, the state Legislature has stepped up by sending two key bills to the governor’s desk to increase funding for water conservation, river health and ecosystem restoration.

The new funding will help Colorado take advantage of even more federal infrastructure dollars approved last year in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which dedicates $8.3 billion to western water projects.

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