“Harris Water Time” and the Colorado River Compact’s century of lessons
By Steve Harris | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice
Any good water management effort, process or project takes what I like to call “water time”—if you expect a water negotiation to take one year, add a zero because it will more likely consume 10! This I now officially and publicly trademark as “Harris Water Time,” patent pending.
Yet somehow the sturdy Colorado River Compact seems to turn my “water time” on its head—a complex, controversial interstate compact was negotiated in a year and has withstood over 100!
The Colorado River Compact split the basin into Upper and Lower regions, shaping water rights for seven states. Photo source: U.S. Geological Survey (2016a).
To explore this confounding story, my young friend suggested I write a series of articles on the Com...

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