There was deep tension in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in September 1947 as the negotiators for the Upper Colorado River Basin states gathered to try to hammer out a deal to divvy up their share of the Colorado’s water. The 1922 Compact had split the river in two at Lee Ferry, and left for later the question …
A guest post by Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University By Jack Schmidt | May 22, 2024 Opportunities to rebuild basin-wide reservoir storage have been rare in the 21st century. On April 3 2024, the snow accumulation season in the Colorado River watershed ended and the snow …
Continue reading ‘End of Season Wrap-Up – Holding on to What We’ve Got’ »
Much attention is focused right now on rewriting Colorado River operating rules, to replace the soon-to-expire 2007 reservoir operating guidelines. But there is a growing frustration that the struggle to solve that relatively narrow problem “mass balance” problem (how much water, and where?) leaves out a range of incredibly important issues: If a reminder of …
Continue reading ‘New Colorado River Guidelines are Only the Beginning’ »
All of the controversy relative to the utilization of the Colorado is hampering the fullest development of the stream. As Governor Pittman said, it is impossible to plan ahead with any assurance when there is such conflict. Solution of all these differences is admittedly not easy. The economic and social future of the various Colorado …
Continue reading ‘Game theory on the Colorado River: The prisoner’s dilemma’ »
By Eric Kuhn Given how far apart the competing proposals from the Colorado River Upper and Lower Division States are, a legitimate question is – “what happens if we get to the summer of 2026 and there is still no agreement on the post-2026 operational guidelines?” Well, believe it or not, that is a question …
Continue reading ‘What Happens if there is no Agreement on Post-2026 Colorado River Operations?’ »
With the submission of two additional proposals last week, we now have five major proposals for post-2026 Colorado River management. The folks at the Water and Tribes Intitiative have helpfully organized them in a single place. (Click on the “Proposed Alternatives for Post-2026 Operating Guidelines” bubble.) Tribal Principles A set of guiding principles proposed by …
Continue reading ‘Five Major Proposals for Post-2026 management of the Colorado River’ »
A guest post from my Utton Center colleague and Colorado River research collaborator Rin Tara, staff attorney and water policy and governance analyst at the Utton Center, University of New Mexico School of Law. By Rin Tara Over the last year, I had the joy of working with John on a law review article …
Despite the Sturm und Drang of last week’s competing proposals to the federal government for managing drought and climate change on the Colorado River, there’s a lot to be hopeful about. On their faces, the Upper Basin and Lower Basin proposals have a lot of “Water’s for fighting over after all!” vibe. But if you …
Continue reading ‘Counseling patience on the current Colorado River kerfuffles’ »
A guest post from Jack Schmidt, crossposted from Utah State University’s Center for Colorado River Studies By Jack Schmidt | March 8, 2024 Reservoir storage didn’t change much in February 2024, demonstrating that the Basin’s water managers and users have succeeded in retaining the bounty of last year’s big runoff. This month’s assessment of Colorado …
Continue reading ‘Holding Course: February brings more of the same for basin storage’ »
By John Fleck It is agonizing to watch this, but here we are. With efforts by the Colorado River Basin states to craft an agreement to share the river’s water skidding, brakes screeching, toward a cliff, we appear on the brink of repeating the disastrous mistake the authors of the Colorado River Compact made a …
Continue reading ‘Ignoring an Inconvenient Colorado River Basin Risk’ »