Common Sense on the Colorado River

As many paddlers know, the future of the Colorado River is fraught with competing demands to pump and pipe water to faraway cities, against efforts to protect what little water is left in the river. It’s rare to see unvarnished assessments of both the scale of the problem, and the most promising solutions, that face all seven Colorado River basin states as the climate warms and dries, and populations grow.

That’s why we are especially happy to see that a group of well-respected academics convened by CU Professor Doug Kenney has released a very brief, very plainly worded summary of the challenges facing the river. The Colorado River Research Group includes researchers from around the Colorado River basin, and has one of the most clear and succinct takes on the scale of the river’s woes, and the obvious solutions within reach.  With a focus on conservation, instead of on new pipelines and dams, the paper lays out a cheap, reasonable path to living within our means on the mighty Colorado.

Here’s a quick excerpt from the introduction to pique your interest:

"To say that the Colorado River is important to the semi-arid Southwest would be a vast understatement: it’s a partial water supply for 40 million people, a source of irrigation water for 5.5 million acres, the driver of 4,200 megawatts of hydropower generating capacity, and home to more National Parks and recreation opportunities than any region of the country. It is, as many writers have observed, the “American Nile.” It is also, however, an incredibly overworked and threatened resource, and virtually all research to date suggests that the situation is likely to worsen without significant reforms.”