The Colorado River – timeless lifeline of the U.S. West – is on the cusp of momentous change. Agreements that govern facility operations and management of the river’s water are scheduled to expire at the end of 2026.
The expiration of these agreements arrives at a time when the river is overused, over-allocated, diminished in supply, stressed by ever-growing demand, and imperiled by climate change.
In addressing these challenges, the agreements to come post-2026 will forge the futures of businesses, ecosystems, and the 40 million people that rely on the river’s water for survival.
The scope of those agreements is taking shape under the guidance of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. To provide expert context and insight to the deliberations already underway, the American Water Works Association (AWWA) has organized stakeholder sessions with support from Black & Veatch. The series has featured water leaders representing agricultural, municipal, tribal, utility, legal, financial, environmental, business, and infrastructure interests at the heart of the upcoming agreements.
Emerging from the AWWA sessions is a vision for a sustainable Colorado River. The vision is built on three pillars: conservation, the creation of new supplies, and the establishment of a new era of collaboration among water providers and users.
A Critical Planning Challenge
From its headwater in Colorado’s Never Summer mountains, the Colorado flows southwesterly through seven states, tribal lands, and 11 national parks and monuments.
It is iconic, at the heart of the natural marvel that is the Grand Canyon and engineered marvel that is Hoover Dam forming Lead Mead.
It is a lifeline, draining a 260,000 square-mile basin that covers approximately 8% of the continental U.S., and providing 16.5 million acre-feet of water per year that fuels an annual economy totaling $1.4 trillion.
It is overburdened. After a 1,450-mile journey, the river flows to a stop in Mexico. Once, it emptied into the Gulf of California. Now, its terminating delta is desert. Despite the river’s span and volume, and despite the efforts to maximize its supply, water scarcity and insecurity are an existential threat to the U.S. West.
In terms used to justify support for certain financial institutions, the Colorado River is too big and too vital to be allowed to fail. It is why bringing key stakeholders together to deliberate and find solutions to the river’s future management is one of the country’s greatest planning challenges.
Agreements that are set to expire in 2026 include interim guidelines for lower basin shortages, interim guidelines involving the operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, drought contingency plans, and agreements between the U.S. and Mexico. The US Bureau of Reclamation has embarked on a “thorough, inclusive, and science-based decision-making process” to address the challenging conditions facing the Colorado River as well as the intricacies of its post-2026 operation.
Governing Contentious Waters
The Colorado River is governed under a set of agreements, acts, treaties, court decisions, and regulatory guidelines collectively called the Law of the River.
The essence of the governance is that water cannot be owned. Instead, rights to it are allocated and distributed.
The Colorado River Compact of 1922 is the cornerstone of the Law of the River. It segmented the basin by upper and lower states and specified the allocation of the water among them. Interpretation of this allocation has been adjudicated multiple times.
Distributing the water, the Law of the River follows the doctrines of prior appropriation and beneficial use. Prior appropriation determines water rights based on the timing, place, and purpose of use. First or older claims get senior rights. Once an appropriator uses the water for a beneficial purpose – such as for irrigation, livestock, crops, manufacturing, drinking water, wildlife, recreation – the right becomes perfected. It is legally protected.
Having rights does not equate with having water. In fact, water right quantities exceed the available water in the Colorado River basin.
About 70% of the Colorado’s water is used for agriculture. Additionally, more than half of the cropland and water in the river’s basin is used to feed cattle and horses.
Managing the river’s limited water supply is made more complex by climate change.
Learn more at “The Hardest-Working River in the West” by the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy.
Laying the Groundwork for a Sustainable River
In parallel with the work of the Bureau of Reclamation, the goal: Bring industry leaders together to cultivate win-win solutions.
The AWWA/Black & Veatch sessions have included:
A Colorado River Roundtable: Solutions for the 21st Century | February 2024
Solutions and Strategies in the Age of Increasing Water Scarcity
Roundtable Participants: Arizona Water Infrastructure Finance Authority, Denver Water, California State Water Contractors, Central Arizona Project, City of Phoenix, Colorado River Board of California, Colorado Water Conservation Board, Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities, Coachella Valley Water District, Imperial Irrigation District, Irvine Ranch Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Upper Colorado River Commission, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Session
Moderator: James Schlaman, Black & Veatch
AWWA Annual Conference & Exposition (ACE) 2024
Saving the Oasis: Strategies for a Resilient Colorado River
Speakers: Michael Cohen, Pacific Institute; Kathryn Sorensen, Kyl Center for Water Policy at Morrison Institute; Amy Haas, Colorado River Authority of Utah; Dan Denham, San Diego County Water Authority; James Schlaman, Black & Veatch
"The conversations have been productive, enlightening, momentum-building,” says James Schlaman, Director of Water Resources and Community Planning at Black & Veatch. “The leaders who engaged in the discussions, while representing diverse and sometimes polarized interests, have showed that a collaborative, pragmatic, solutions-oriented planning approach is achievable to elevate the Colorado River’s sustainability in favor of their common purposes."
Objectives and actions from the sessions can be categorized under three pillars of sustainability, as follows:
Pillar 1: Conservation
Reduce agricultural demand. Promote high efficiency agricultural irrigation practices, fix canal leaks and transmission losses, and promote higher yield/lower demand crops.
Reduce municipal demand. Steps include reducing outdoor watering particularly of non-functional turf grass, promoting xeriscaping, and reducing transmission/distribution system losses and non-revenue water.
Reduce industrial demand. Focus on reducing evaporative cooling and moving toward zero liquid discharge strategies (ZLD).
Pillar 2: Creation of New Supplies
Promote reuse. Reduce demand on the Colorado River via strategies involving non-potable recycled water (for cooling towers, irrigation), indirect potable reuse (to replenish and protect groundwater and surface water resources), and direct potable reuse (reduces the need for imported water).
Adopt desalination. Traditional barriers to adopting desalination are becoming easier to hurdle as technology continues to improve in treatment performance and energy consumption, enabling a locally controlled, high-quality, climate-resistant solution.
Groundwater. Expand groundwater development and groundwater augmentation utilizing aquifer storage and recovery (ASR), stormwater and recycled water augmentation.
Pillar 3: Collaboration
Muni-Ag. Collaborate to promote compensated conservation/demand management programs. For example, farmers are paid to not use but transfer water temporarily to municipalities, as necessary.
Muni-Industrial. Business and municipalities collaborate to offset demands. For example, Big Tech invests in water resources strategies to offset their water demands and become net neutral.
Muni-Muni. Cities and utilities collaborate to create new and/or recycled water resources where possible to swap with other agencies that need the water. For example, one creates a reuse program, and others invest in it.
The enormity of the Colorado River’s challenges requires an approach as far-reaching, timeless, and iconic as the river itself. By integrating the pillars of conservation, creation, and collaboration into a comprehensive planning and management framework, the river can be valued at its true worth and stakeholders can work toward ensuring its sustainability for all concerned.
For more than a century, Black & Veatch has been developing the water infrastructure that has built communities across the U.S. and around the world. Our experienced planning team is at the forefront of helping clients address the challenges of today while planning for future sustainability and resilience. For more information on how Black & Veatch delivers long-term value to water, sanitation, and stormwater clients at every stage of the project lifecycle, contact our experts today.
