COLORADO RIVER: LIFEBLOOD OF THE WEST

Posted: Tuesday, July 18, 2023

“Whiskey is for drinking. Water is for fighting.”

You’ve heard this proverbial quote before, and today you hear it louder and more often in the Colorado River Basin. Western water law, western states water compacts, water policy, and decisions about how this limited public resource is allocated will continue to be extremely complex, and will remain a highly charged issue into the near future. Western water “grabbing” wars began in the mid-1800s during the gold rush. Periods of truce can last for decades, but during times of drought and western states’ population growth, the combatants take up arms, and the battle ensues.

The Colorado River Basin includes the Upper Basin States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, and the Lower Basin States of Arizona, California, and Nevada. It also includes thirty tribal nations, and Mexico. Western states’ significant population growth, climate impacts, and the twenty-year megadrought—said to be the worst in 1200 years—have super-charged the water crisis, causing the basin river flows to decline faster than water managers anticipated. Under the terms of the governing interstate agreement for the Colorado River Basin, known as the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the Upper Basin states must deliver 7.5 million acre-feet of water annually on a 10-year running average to the Lower Basin states. Any excess water received, or left unused in the Upper Basin flows to the Lower Basin, because much of it cannot be stored in the Upper Basin mountain states.

In the past, the limited Upper Basin water storage has given Lower Basin States access to surplus water, which they have become reliant on, a fact that Upper Basin water managers insist has to change if the river is going to be brought into balance in the current, drier world. Lake Powell, located at the Utah-Arizona border, is the largest reservoir on the system, and was designed to ensure the Upper Basin States meet their legal obligation under the 1922 Compact to the Lower Basin States. Due to recording Lake Powell’s lowest level since it was built in 1963, and concerns about Powell’s hydropower production, in 2021 the US Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water resources and administered under the Department of Interior, issued an emergency release of one million acre-feet (one acre-foot equals 326,000 gallons) of Upper Basin water in Flaming Gorge, Utah and in Blue Mesa Reservoir, Colorado. Considered a short-term band-aid by most water managers, the objective was to protect Lake Powell’s ability to produce hydropower that supplies much of the west, and more than fifty cities and electric companies in Colorado alone.

In 2007, the seven Basin States agreed to a plan to begin jointly managing the river system, hoping the drought would lessen before the agreement known as the Colorado River 2007 Interim Guidelines expires in 2026. Currently, all seven states are jockeying for position, preparing to renegotiate this 2007 agreement.

As the Colorado River supply shrinks and thirst for the Colorado River water increases, the big question is: Can the Basin States find an equitable solution to sharing the river’s waters? Getting to an agreement to resolve the river’s shrinking supply is unlikely to be easy. In the event an agreement is not reached, the other option is a “compact call.” Based on a system of “first in time, first in right” water right “calls” have become the norm on smaller tributaries and irrigation ditches in the west but there has never been a “compact call” under the 1922 Colorado River Compact, and a majority of the states’ water policymakers and engineers, often known as “water buffaloes” for their ruthlessness, want to avert a basin-wide and unprecedented “compact call” war. Per the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the Upper Basin States would bear the responsibility for dividing water use reductions. Colorado, being the headwater state with its expanding population, and holding the largest river flows, would feel the greatest impact from any 1922 Compact call and court ordered imposed water curtailments.

Like many western states’ increasing population, Colorado’s population grew at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the nation, putting it among the fastest growing states, as reported by the US Census Bureau. Between 2010 to 2020, Colorado saw nearly 15% growth rate as compared to the 7.4% national average but Colorado’s growth was unevenly distributed across the state with Colorado’s east slope -front range urban centers drawing the majority of population increases. Like the Lower Basin States, the Colorado front range high growth urban areas of Fort Collins, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo receive the majority of their water from Colorado’s west slope Rocky Mountain water. In order to transport water from west of the Continental Divide to east of the divide, there are 24 major trans basin diversions carrying western slope snow back, mountain water to the high population front range east slope urban areas. In Colorado, approximately 80% of the state’s growing population lives along the east slope front range area, while 80% of the state’s precipitation falls on the west slope mountain area. Colorado’s largest trans basin diversion projects completed in 1944 is the Colorado- Big Thompson Project that includes the 13.1-mile, concrete-lined, Adams Tunnel engineered and located under, what is today, Rocky Mountain National Park. The Colorado-Big Thompson Project spans a total of 250 miles from the West Slope headwaters of the Colorado River collection area near Winter Park and finally exiting 2900 vertical feet down the slope to the Front Range east slope area. Majority of the Colorado-Big Thompson water was originally utilized for farming but as front range populations grew, the water has been converted to municipal and industrial uses.

Western states have experienced unprecedented growth over the past two decades and like Colorado, much of the historical agricultural water is being converted for municipal and industrial uses. As the 1922 Colorado River Compact eclipses its 100^th anniversary, Upper and Lower Basin water managers and the US Bureau of Reclamation are analyzing formal water delivery shortage scenarios. Water demand studies often focus on agricultural water rights and as already occurring in high water demand areas of Colorado, the practice of buying agricultural water rights and drying up or fallowing of the historical agricultural irrigated lands is becoming a common practice known as “buy and dry” and consistent option in majority of water demand studies. In addition, most studies include the shutting down of post-1922 and junior water rights until the Colorado River water supply reaches a level to supply the 1922 Compact water requirements. According to the Upper Colorado River Commission, the upper Basin is going above and beyond to reach its river compact requirements, but recent drought years and population trends have forced Upper Basin water managers to analyze hypothetical legal losses in the event of a Compact Call. The process and outcomes of a Compact Call are unknown considering it has never occurred and discussed more often in recent years, a Compact Call strikes fear into Upper Basin water managers. As western states’ populations continue to grow, drought conditions persist and the thirst for Colorado River water expands, ranch owners and those of us involved in Colorado River Basin ranch brokerage may be found stocking up on whiskey and ready for a fight but we remain hopeful that a full scale water battle will not ensue.

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COLORADO RIVER: LIFEBLOOD OF THE WEST