This issue updates progress on crafting and implementing
California’s 4.4 plan to reduce its use of Colorado River water
by 800,000 acre-feet. The state has used as much as 5.2 million
acre-feet of Colorado River water annually, but under pressure
from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the other six states
that share this resource, California’s Colorado River parties
have been trying to close the gap between demand and supply. The
article – delayed to include the latest information from
Babbitt’s Dec.
This issue updates progress on crafting and implementing
California’s 4.4 plan to reduce its use of Colorado River water
by 800,000 acre-feet. The state has used as much as 5.2 million
acre-feet of Colorado River water annually, but under pressure
from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the other six states
that share this resource, California’s Colorado River parties
have been trying to close the gap between demand and supply. The
article – delayed to include the latest information from
Babbitt’s Dec.
This issue updates progress on crafting and implementing
California’s 4.4 plan to reduce its use of Colorado River water
by 800,000 acre-feet. The state has used as much as 5.2 million
acre-feet of Colorado River water annually, but under pressure
from Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and the other six states
that share this resource, California’s Colorado River parties
have been trying to close the gap between demand and supply.
An expanded issue of Western Water offered comprehensive coverage
of the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the document negotiated and
signed by representatives of the seven states that share the
Colorado River and then-Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover. The
article discussed the controversial issues of today and their
relationship to the past, including how the law of the river
relates to today’s issues.
The written proceedings of the Foundation’s 2011 Colorado River
Symposium, “Solving the Basin’s Math Problem: Adapting to
Change.” This two-and-a-half day, invitation-only event held in
September 2011 brought together some of the top policymakers in
the Colorado River Basin. Symposium discussions focused on
realities associated with water supply and demands; hydrological
and political drivers of change; the Colorado River Basin Study;
adapting to increased costs and determining who pays;
cross-border issues between Mexico and the United States; and
adapting to climate change.
The written proceedings of the Foundation’s 2009 Colorado River
Symposium, “The Colorado River: Building a Sustainable Future.”
This two-and-a-half day, invitation-only event held in September
2009 brought together some of the top policymakers in the
Colorado River Basin. Symposium discussions focused on
Mexico/U.S. issues; population growth; Colorado River
augmentation; climate change; the energy-water supply connection
and closed with a crystal ball panel discussion on alternative
futures for the river.
The written proceedings of the Foundation’s 2007 Colorado River
Symposium, “The Colorado River Compact at 85 and Changes on the
River.” This two-and-a-half day, invitation-only event held in
September 2007 brought together some of the top policymakers in
the Colorado River Basin. Symposium discussions focused on the
1922 Compact and its applicability in 2007; Mexican/U.S. border
issues; climate change, water supplies and growth; federal
funding; and the restoring the riparian system.
The written proceedings of the Foundation’s 2005 Colorado River
Symposium, “Sharing the Risks: Shortage, Surplus and Beyond,” is
now available. Held last September, the fifth biennial
invitation-only symposium brought together the top policymakers
in the Colorado River Basin.
In September 2003, the Foundation hosted its fourth Colorado
River Symposium, “The Ties that Bind: Policy and the Evolving Law
of the Colorado River. This two-and-a-half day, invitation-only
event brought together some of the top policy-makers in the
Colorado River Basin to discuss the legal and physical ties link
the seven states, two countries and many stakeholders that share
the Colorado River. Participants at the event included Bennett
Raley, Assistant Interior Secretary for Water and Science, and
John Keys, Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
In early 2002, the Foundation hosted its third Colorado River
Symposium, “Coming to Consensus: Sharing the Colorado River.”
This two-and-a-half day, invitation-only event brought together
some of the top policy-makers in the Colorado River Basin to
discuss how the different states and disparate interest groups
can work together to better manage the river. Participants at the
event included Bennett Raley, Assistant Interior Secretary for
Water and Science, and John Keys, Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation.
In 1999, the Foundation held its second Colorado River Symposium,
Managing the Colorado River: Past, Present and Future. This
two-and-a-half-day event brought together 110 top policy-makers
and leading stakeholders from the seven states that share the
Colorado River, American Indian tribes, Mexico, environmental
groups and the federal government to discuss ways these diverse
interests can work together to address the many challenges facing
the Colorado River.
In 1997, the Foundation sponsored a three-day, invitation-only
symposium at Bishop’s Lodge, New Mexico, site of the 1922
Colorado River Compact signing, to discuss the historical
implications of that agreement, current Colorado River issues and
future challenges. The 204-page proceedings features the panel
discussions and presentations on such issues as the Law of the
River, water marketing and environmental restoration.
This printed issue of River Report, “Finding a Solution for
the Salton Sea,” discusses the Salton Sea, the enigmatic, saline,
terminal water body where officials and stakeholder are trying to
craft a long-term, viable solution to preserve the Sea’s
ecological health.
This printed issue of River Report, “Minute 319: Building on
the Past to Provide for the Future,” details the components of
Minute 319, takes a look at the precedent it sets and what might
come after the five-year Minute expires.
This printed issue of River Report, “Maintaining a Fragile
Alliance: Colorado River Water Users and the QSA,” discusses the
state of the California Quantification Settlement Agreement
(QSA), including the efforts to find a long-standing resolution
to mitigating the transfer impacts on the Salton Sea that
threaten the integrity of the agreement.
This issue of River Report, “Bigger, Faster and Stronger:
Climate Change and the Colorado River Basin,” describes how many
experts believe that climate change is happening faster than
first predicted and how it has taken on the elements of VUCA –
increased volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. Much
of the content is based on the comments of a climate change panel
assembled at the Foundation’s invitation-only 2011 Colorado River
Symposium.
This issue of River Report, “Conserving Species and Habitat:
Five Years of the Multi-Species Conservation Program,” looks at
how the MSCP is striving to improve wildlife habitat along the
Lower Colorado River.
This issue of River Report, “Balancing a Complex Set of
Interests: Glen Canyon Dam and Adaptive Management”, examines
some recent developments surrounding Glen Canyon Dam – control of
non-native fish, possible flow changes to accommodate sediment
transport and a new long-term operations plan.
This issue of River Report features an interview of
Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Mike Connor conducted by
Foundation Executive Director Rita Schmidt Sudman. Side articles
include focus on the Yuma Desalting Plant’s yearlong pilot run,
Recovery Act funding of Reclamation projects and the
near-completion of the Drop 2 Storage Reservoir.
The attention devoted to reaching a critical balance of water
supply reliabil¬ity and ecosystem health has involved a small
army of scientific, legal and policy experts – all intently
focused on a river system that is caught in a set of ongoing
environmental issues as well as predicted changes in
precipitation that look to disrupt the fundamental assumptions of
how much water will flow in the next 100 years.
