On the implications of total Mead-Powell storage reaching record lows: The big questions that are implied by where we’re at are ones that absolutely need to be addressed, but they’re not going to be addressed now. I mean, we can’t even have functional conversations about how to reduce consumptive use. – Jack Schmidt, quoted by …
On Sunday, the Colorado River passed a grim milestone. Total combined storage in Lake Mead and Lake Powell dropped to a historic low. It was my Wilburys colleague Jack Schmidt who noticed the milestone: On Sunday, July 12, the surface of Lake Powell was 3524.32 feet above sea level, and the surface of Lake Mead …
People are finally starting to say the quiet parts, the parts so many Upper Basin people have been grumbling about in private, out loud. Via an incredibly important Heather Sackett story: Colorado Sen. Dylan Roberts, a District 8 Democrat who represents several Western Slope counties, including Eagle, Grand, Garfield, Routt and Summit, asked Colorado’s lead …
Continue reading ‘Cracks in the Upper Colorado River Basin wall’ »
A grab bag from my friends and colleagues working on Colorado River issues…. The good news From friend of Inkstain Karl Flessa (the guy who helped get me started thinking about the Colorado River Delta), a new analysis concluding that despite the terrible hydrology and political difficulties, environmental restoration work in the delta is working: …
Continue reading ‘Some good Colorado River news, some bad news, and a request for help’ »
Federal water managers yesterday (May 18, 2026) began pushing a pulse of water through New Mexico’s rapidly drying Middle Rio Grande to try to encourage the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow to spawn. From a note sent ’round to the Bureau’s water management list yesterday by Carolyn Donnelly, water operations supervisor for the bureau’s Albuquerque …
Continue reading ‘2026-05-19: Federal managers increase release for the silvery minnow’ »
Nota bene: A guest post from friends of Inkstain John Berggren and Kevin Wheeler John Berggren (Regional Policy Manager, Western Resource Advocates) Kevin Wheeler (Principle, Water Balance Consulting) 5/5/2026 As everyone is well aware, the snowpack and associated runoff this year are truly awful. It will be one of the worst, if not worst, on record. …
As the former CEOs of two of the largest water utilities using water from the Colorado River, we have been deeply engaged in interstate and federal negotiations on the river for over 30 years. Those negotiations were tough, but the basin states ultimately reached agreement, including reducing California’s use of water by 800,000 acre-feet and …
Continue reading ‘Quoting Jeff Kightlinger and Jim Lochhead’ »