Colorado River ‘water market’ could bring security to farmers, fish and families: Study

Arizona water chief: Release Colorado River water based on what's there

Arizona’s water chief is offering a new path out of the morass in Colorado River negotiations — a proposal to tie future water releases from Lake Powell to Lake Mead on what’s actually in the river, rather than what forecasters…

As drought deepens, big tech has put nearly half of its data centers in water-scarce regions

Jesse Rieser for BIThe Colorado River runs over 1,450 miles through seven US states, carving dramatic canyons and providing drinking water for 40 million people before it crosses into Mexico.Overuse threatens to dry up this critical American artery, which sustains people from Denver to Los Angeles and feeds the crops of California's Imperial Valley and Arizona's Yuma region — two of the world's most productive agricultural areas.Already, some ho…

‘A glimmer of hope’ emerges from long-stuck Colorado River negotiations

There’s a break in the clouds that have hovered over Colorado River negotiations for more than a year. State water leaders appear to be coalescing behind a new proposal for sharing the river after talks were stuck in a deadlock for more than a year. The river is used by nearly 40 million people across seven states and Mexico, but it’s shrinking due to climate change. As a result, state leaders need to rein in demand. For months, they were mired …

A strategic environmental water rights market for Colorado River reallocation - Nature Sustainability

The Colorado River system is among the world’s most overallocated basins, struggling to supply water to the southwestern United States and Mexico. Consequently, 90% of the basin’s native fish species are endangered, threatened or extinct. Driven by a 24-year megadrought, the United States allocated over US$4 billion for drought mitigation, including water market transactions that pay farms, cities and industries to divert less water across the U…

Colorado River ‘water market’ could bring security to farmers, fish and families: Study

Applying a market-based approach to Colorado River management could ensure more robust and reliable supplies for farmers, communities and the environment, a new study has found. Without considerable cutbacks in basin-wide water consumption, fish populations could face dire consequences for at least one month of the irrigation season, scientists warned in the study, published Friday…

Bureau of Reclamation continues to focus on managing drought conditions – The Standard Newspaper

The Bureau of Reclamation is focused on working with partners across the Colorado River Basin to address the needs of communities and develop longer-term measures to respond to drought conditions.