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Walcher: The way out of the Colorado River crisis is abundance not subtraction
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Walcher: The way out of the Colorado River crisis is abundance not subtraction

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com John Wesley Powell, the 19th Century Colorado River explorer, long-time head of the U.S. Geological Survey, and one-armed veteran of the Battle of Shiloh, published one of the earliest analyses of the American Southwest in 1879, called “Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States.” He may have been the first to figure out that the limiting factor for settlement and growth in the West would never be land, but always water. It would be just as prescient if written last week. As he predicted, the modern prosperity of the West is built entirely on dams, canals, and irrigation – about which millions of its citizens are barely aware. People focus on water slightly more during droughts. English clergyman Thomas Fuller publish...
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Is Colorado’s “final” Colorado River plan really final?
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Is Colorado’s “final” Colorado River plan really final?

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com I heard about two lawyers that argued for over an hour. Finally, one said, “That’s my final word on the subject.” To which the other replied, “Oh, good. Now we can begin.” In politics, contentious agreements are a bit like that, too. There is really no such thing as a “final” agreement, only the agreement that’s in effect until the next meeting. The Bureau of Reclamation just released its “Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Post-2026 Operational Guidelines and Strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead.” It represents the government’s “final decision” on how it will manage the Colorado River over the next ten years. The first draft of the document was published in January, followed by months of public comments and meetings, an...
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Before tearing down dams, remember why they were built
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Before tearing down dams, remember why they were built

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com A Montana friend reminded me of an old cowboy adage: “Before you take down a fence, you ought to pause long enough to ask why it was put there.” It’s a principle called “Chesterton’s Fence,” coined by writer G.K. Chesterton who cautioned against acting rashly. He wrote, “a ‘modern reformer’ says of the fence, ‘I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.’ But someone more intelligent refuses until learning why it’s there.” It is the perfect analogy for today’s debate about removing dams, a popular global trend for the past few years. Chesterton’s 1929 book, The Thing, explains the logic that should prevail: “This paradox rests on the most elementary common sense. The gate or fence did not grow there. It was not set up by somnambulis...
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Before blaming alfalfa for Colorado’s water woes, consider what the headlines leave out
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Before blaming alfalfa for Colorado’s water woes, consider what the headlines leave out

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Alfalfa and water use: comparing apples to oranges There is a media narrative out there about alfalfa which, though not entirely wrong, is desperately in need of context; this being another example of why reporters parachuting into rural areas of the state to report on things prior to running back to the Front Range is doing no one any good (rural or urban). The claim was recently repeated in a Sun article, along with its natural follow-on. Quoting from the first link below: “It takes 44 inches of water a year in Burlington to grow alfalfa. Only about 10 inches of water drops on Burlington in a year. It only takes 15 inches of water to grow a healthy crop of black-eyed peas in Burlington. So. The numbers ...
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Colorado Officials Push For Emergency Drought Declaration As Conditions Worsen
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Officials Push For Emergency Drought Declaration As Conditions Worsen

By: Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun Shifting into the next phase of the state’s emergency drought response plan could unlock more resources and funding. WINTER PARK — Members of the Colorado Drought Task Force want Gov. Jared Polis to issue an emergency proclamation to unlock more help, potentially from state coffers, in face of worrisome drought conditions.  After a historically bad winter that ended a month early, Colorado is already feeling the impacts — whether that’s financial strain, tough business decisions or an overstressed environment. As part of the state’s response, the task force recommended Monday moving into the highest level, phase three, of the state’s drought response plan. The move could allow the state to tap more resources or seek a presi...
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California’s water answer may be hiding in plain sight: The Pacific Ocean
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

California’s water answer may be hiding in plain sight: The Pacific Ocean

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com The Wall Street Journal headline said “San Diego Now Has So Much Water That It’s Selling It.” The article said San Diego generates enough water to rescue Arizona, though that’s jumping the gun just a bit. No such deal has actually been finalized yet, but the fact that the conversation is underway marks a new era in Colorado River negotiations. And not a minute too soon. The latest optimism is not based on any change in the historically low flow of the Colorado River. It’s based on the realization – at long last – that California does not need Colorado River water. That realization has finally come not only to Upper Basin states like Colorado (which has been making this point for decades) but to all of the seven states in the Colorado Rive...
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Arizona California Nevada Unite On Colorado River Plan As Shortages Loom
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The Guardian, Approved, National

Arizona California Nevada Unite On Colorado River Plan As Shortages Loom

By Ian James | The Guardian Proposal includes cutbacks for three years as negotiations over future of shrinking reservoirs have been unsuccessful. The states of California, Arizona and Nevada have proposed voluntary water-saving measures for the next three years aimed at buying time while negotiations remain deadlocked over the future of shrinking reservoirs filled by the Colorado River. The Colorado River provides water to some 40 million people in the American west. But the two vast reservoirs filled by the river, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both stand at historically low levels, after consistent overdrawing coupled with reduced snowpack and warming from climate change. The seven states with legal rights to water from the Colorado River have so far failed to agree on...
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Interim Committees On The Chopping Block As Colorado Faces Lean Budget Year
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Interim Committees On The Chopping Block As Colorado Faces Lean Budget Year

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics In a tight-budget year, the work of interim committees — those off-session groups that look at transportation, agriculture, water, healthcare, wildfires, pensions, and anything else lawmakers want to look at — is on the chopping block. And this year, no committee is considered sacrosanct. A bill introduced Thursday by the legislative leadership from both parties and both chambers wipes out just about all interim committees this year, including some year-round groups. It’s expected to save about $396,000 in the 2026-27 budget, according to legislative council staff. It would prohibit meetings, field trips, and legislative recommendations and reports from the year-round Capital Development Committee, which play...
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Historic Drought And Political Divide Stall Colorado River Agreement
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Historic Drought And Political Divide Stall Colorado River Agreement

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics With the Feb. 14 deadline looming, the seven states in the Colorado River Basin failed to reach an agreement on how to manage the river after the 2026 operating guidelines expire later this year. John Entsminger, Nevada’s chief negotiator, said there is no deal in place. “The seven Colorado River Basin states have failed to reach an agreement to collectively protect our respective communities and economies in the face of almost certain reductions to our use of the river,” Entsminger said. “As I talk with people throughout Southern Nevada, I hear their frustrations that years of negotiations have yielded almost no headway in finding a path through these turbulent waters.” Entsminger added, “As someone who has spent countle...
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Feds Unveil Colorado River Options as States Miss Agreement Deadline
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Feds Unveil Colorado River Options as States Miss Agreement Deadline

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Two months after the seven states of the Colorado River basin failed to reach consensus on managing the waterway, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation issued a set of proposed alternatives. The alternatives are familiar concepts, including “no action” — an unlikely scenario — and certain levels of coordination, including voluntary measures, among the states. One option is driven by the historical, natural flow at one of the reservoirs. Current operating guidelines for the river that supplies water to seven states, 40 million people, 30 tribes and 5.5 million acres of agricultural land will expire at the end of 2026.  On Jan. 9, the Bureau issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement that evaluates five operational alterna...
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