Denver Water can finish its Gross Dam expansion and fill the controversial reservoir in western Boulder County, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, lifting an injunction by a lower court judge and confirming the damโs permits as sound.
The appeals court said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had acted responsibly in issuing construction permits for the $600 million expansion, which is largely complete and will be filled using water rights Denver holds in the Colorado River basin on the western side of the Continental Divide.
โWe do not think the Corpsโs choice of cost methodology was arbitrary or capricious,โ the appeals court ruling said. The plaintiffs, including nonprofit Save the Colorado, argued the Corps rejected clear evidence of climate change, but the appeals court ruled the Corps gave the research fair consideration.
โThe Corps considered โ and rejected โ the reliability of that and similar studies, one of which showed that in the Colorado River Basin, โno consistent trends in annual precipitation have been detected over the last 100 years,โโ the appeals court said.
โIn the end, the environmental groups ask us to substitute our judgment for the Corpsโs. They point out scientific studies that, in their view, rebut the Corpsโs reading of the scientific literature and ask us to opine on what the scientific research establishes,โ the appellate ruling said. โBut our job is not to second-guess the Corpsโs assessment as long as it rests on a reasoned basis.โ
โWeโre pleased to see the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals confirm that the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project was lawfully permitted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and that Denver Water can proceed with the final stages of this critical project to ensure a safe, secure water supply for the 1.5 million people we serve,โ according to a statement from spokesperson Todd Hartman. โWith this decision, Denver Water can move forward with completion of construction, site preparation and eventual filling of the expanded reservoir. An expanded Gross Reservoir is vital to the future of the Denver region.โ
Itโs nonsensical to be putting more straws in, and further draining, the Colorado River at this point in history,โ Wockner said. โThat the law allows it to happen doesnโt make it right, it just makes it legal. I saw something wrong, I stood up, spoke out and took action. It was the right thing to do and I would do it all over again.โ
Wockner said Tuesday the plaintiffs would not be appealing the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Gross Reservoir Dam backs up South Boulder Creek, while also taking in water through the Moffat Tunnel under the divide, from the Fraser and Williams Fork rivers in the Colorado River basin. Denver Water has said the expansion is needed to balance its water storage system currently heavily concentrated on the southern end of the metro area.
The Trump administrationโs Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to further constrain the reach and potency of the Clean Water Act by re-defining what qualifies as โwaters of the United States,โ or WOTUS, which are streams, wetlands, and other water bodies under federal jurisdiction. The proposed definition would disproportionately affect the arid West by lifting protections from thousands of miles of streams, arroyos, and wetlands.
Under the CWA, a firm or individual looking to discharge pollutants or other material into, or dredge or reroute or otherwise alter, a WOTUS waterway must obtain a federal permit from the EPA or Army Corps of Engineers. A battle has raged for more than five decades over what constitutes a WOTUS. The Supreme Courtโs 2023 Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency ruling called for a narrower definition, handing industry and right-wing ideologues a major victory.
Ephemeral streams are streams that do not always flow. They are above the groundwater reservoir and appear after precipitation in the area. Via Socratic.org
The changes in the latest proposed supplemental rule are even more exclusionary than the administrationโs November 2025 proposal, which removed โephemeralโ and โintermittentโ waterways โ i.e. arroyos or washes that run only after rains or snowmelt โ from federal jurisdiction. Included as a WOTUS under that proposal were โrelatively permanent โฆ bodies of surface water that are standing or continuously flowing year-round or at least during the wet season.โ
The new proposal omits the โwet seasonโ verbiage. It then defines โrelatively permanentโ to be synonymous with โperennial,โ which in turn is defined as โโhaving standing or continuously flowing water every day of the year during ordinary conditions.โโ However, โa body of water does not lose its relatively permanent status if it dries up as a result of anomalous events such as drought or dry spell.1 A body of water also does not lose its relatively permanent status if it dries up for no more than a single period of up to 30 consecutive days in any given year as a result of non-anomalous events resulting in a temporary interruption such as low tide or a regularly occurring dry spell.โ Yet, โif flow is interrupted for two periods in any given year, and each period consists of 10 consecutive days of no flow, the water body would not be jurisdictional.โ
A Natural Resources Defense Council analysis found that the new proposal would remove protections from more than 94% of the nationโs wetlands and about 79% of its streams. The changes would hit the West hardest, leaving a state like Arizona with almost no federally protected streams or wetlands.
So hereโs my interpretation of where the updated proposal leaves us:
WOTUS waterways (keeps CWA protections): A year-round river, stream, or lake that never dries up, such as the Animas River, the San Juan River, the Colorado River, the Gunnison River, Cement Creek, Mineral Creek, the Fremont River, and so on, would retain federal protections under the CWA. However, since most of these rivers are fed by intermittent or ephemeral streams, they would also be potentially affected (since is someone altered or polluted a tributary, the effects would eventually reach the mainstem).
Non-WOTUS waterways (would lose CWA protections): All intermittent and ephemeral streams, i.e. arroyos or washes that run only when it rains, such as are ubiquitous in the arid West, would be removed from federal jurisdiction. Other streams and rivers that run seasonally, but regularly dry up for more than 30 consecutive days per year, such as the Paria River, the Dirty Devil, Rio Puerco, Santa Cruz River, or the Mancos River, would also lose federal protections, as would wetlands that are only โwetโ for part of the year.
Vague WOTUS status: Rivers or streams that are perennial as a whole, but on which certain segments dry up for more than 30 days per year (usually because of upstream diversions), e.g.: the Rio Grande through Albuquerque, long sections of the Lower Dolores River between McPhee Dam and its confluence with the San Miguel, the North Fork of the Gunnison around Paonia, lower reaches of the La Plata River, or Junction Creek through Durango, and numerous desert rivers in Arizona and New Mexico.
While the proposed rule would remove federal CWA protections from many waterways, it would not automatically give developers or industry free rein to bulldoze or dump toxic waste into them. State and local laws would still apply, and arroyos and streams on public land would still be protected to some degree by federal environmental laws. Colorado lawmakers passed a bill in 2024 that effectively backfilled the regulatory gap left by the Sackett decision. New Mexico also has moved to implement its own layer of water protections. In more industry-friendly states such as Idaho and Utah, the proposed rule would leave thousands of miles of streams and waterways vulnerable to development and pollution.
The proposed rule is open to public comments until Oct. 9. You may send comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPAโHQโ OWโ2025โ0322, by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Email: OW-Docket@epa.gov. Include Docket ID No. EPAโHQโOWโ 2025โ0322 in the subject line of the message. โข
Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, Water Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460.
Hand Delivery or Courier: EPA Docket Center, WJC West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004.
For more background on the long and winding struggle to define WOTUS, check out the following:
My February 2022 High Country News piece on the Supreme Court taking up the Sackett Case, including a detailed timeline of the WOTUS definition battle.
And, from the Land Desk archives (youโll need a paid subscription for access):
A new paper is out from the group of Colorado River experts known by some as the โTraveling Wilburys of the Colorado River Basin,โ2 and lo and behold, it actually contains some good news. Namely this: The Lower Basin users have managed to make significant reductions in water use over the last decade and a half without turning the Southwest into a dust-choked wasteland and getting ahead of the latest round of mandated cuts. This indicates that the users can continue to slash water use in the future โ to a degree โ if necessary.
The Lower Basin accounts for about 60% of all consumptive water uses and losses on the Colorado River. Irrigated agriculture, in turn, makes up about 60% of the Lower Basinโs consumptive use. The Imperial Irrigation District, which is primarily agricultural, is the largest single water user on the entire river. This means that the agricultural sector โ and the IID in particular โ โwill play a significant role in future reductions in water use,โ as the authors put it.
So far, the Lower Basinโs farmers and the IID have stepped up. In 2025, the Lower Basin statesโ consumptive use was 5.76 million acre-feet, the lowest since at least 2010. Since 2023, California has used about 13% less water, a reduction attributable mostly to cuts at IID.
Source: The Colorado River Water Supply Crisis in a Few Graphs: Part 2 Agricultural Water Use in the Lower Basin.
Figure 3. Consumptive use in Arizona since 2010. Estimated use in 2026 based on forecast of September 1, 2026.
Notably, IIDโs reductions came mostly during the summer months, the peak season for field crops such as alfalfa, Bermuda grass, and kleingrass, when itโs too hot to grow most garden crops, such as lettuce, onions, and broccoli. During the vegetablesโ growing season, from November through March, water use stayed roughly the same as before. A similar, but less dramatic, dynamic shows up in Arizona.
Figure 6. Box-and-whisker plots of total monthly consumptive use by the IID between 2010 and 2026. Each box is the Inter Quartile Range, defined by the 25th and 75th percentile of the years of data for that month. These boxes represent the typical monthly use pattern since 2010. Red dots are the average use in each month between 2024 and 2026. See text for additional explanation of a box-and-whisker plot.
This suggests a couple of things: 1. The Imperial Irrigation District and other large agricultural users may be able to significantly lower overall water use without harming important garden crops such as broccoli and carrots (easing fears that the Colorado River crisis will deprive us of vegetables); and, 2. The IID is successfully using its vast alfalfa crop as a giant water demand-response tool3. That is, through both fallowing some fields and putting others on a summer water diet, the districtโs farmers have managed to slash water use, while still growing gobs of hay and alfalfa.
And because the IID still has about 150,000 acres of alfalfa, it has huge potential for future water cuts through these same methods, which is the good news. The bad news is that the federal plan for operating the river contemplates Lower Basin cuts of up to 3 million acre-feet per year (resulting in a total annual consumption of 4.5 MAF), which is about twice what the Basin has already achieved.
To consider the viability of such cuts, the authors summed up the smallest monthly use in each Lower Basin state since 2010, even though they didnโt occur simultaneously, and even though in some cases the reductions were due to heavy precipitation, not conservation efforts. The result was 5.03 MAF, still 530,000 acre-feet over the potential target. In other words, getting to 4.5 MAF/year is likely to be much more painful than accomplishing the reductions so far.
Yet some pain is likely to be necessary unless the Westโs warming climate does a rapid about-face, and soon.
๐ธ PARTING SHOT ๐๏ธ
Horse, Torrey, Utah. Jonathan P. Thompson photo.
1 * The proposed rule says โonly extreme (D3) and exceptional (D4) droughts would qualify as anomalous drought conditions that can temporarily interrupt perennial flow, and can extend continuously across no more than a five-year timeframe.โ
2 This is an appropriate monicker, coined by longtime Colorado journalist Allen Best, and is great for those of us in Generation X or older. But I worry that it might not mean much to anyone under the age of, say, 40? So if you have any more contemporary suggestions for a group of superstar water wonks, aka, Jack Schmidt, Anne Castle, Eric Kuhn, Kathryn Sorensen, and Katherine Tara, Iโd love to hear them!
3 Demand response is a term typically used in relation to electricity use. Itโs when large power users, or a collection of smaller users, are paid to reduce electricity consumption during times of high demand to ease grid strain. So, for example, during a heat wave, when everyoneโs air conditioners are running full blast, the utility or grid operator would signal a factory, say, or a data center, or even a host of smart thermostats, to scale back their operations or dial down the AC during the hottest time of the day when solar generation might be dropping off. The targeted drop in consumption has the same effect as increasing power generation would, keeping supply and demand in balance.
Since Jonathan wonders if anyone under 40 will get the reference to the Traveling Wilburys, here you go:
Coyote Gulch’s Ariya charging at the Colorado Energy Office partner Tesla charging facility in Cortez.
Thursday was a travel day from Cortez to Fruita. I hadn’t been able to drive that route in an EV before because of the CHAdeMO connector on my Leaf and the distances involved. The Ariya’s CCS1 charging port and the NACS adapter opened up the route for me, not to mention the Ariya’s superb range. I charged in the morning in Cortez at the Tesla/Colorado Energy Office facility. The NACS to CCS1 adapter is standard equipment so I didn’t have to use the one I brought along. This was also the case in Moab where I charged for the leg to Fruita. I stayed with my 80% level at each charger so I had plenty of charge to make the trip.
The route north and west out of Cortez and dryland pinto bean country into the Spanish Valley with the La Sals to the east is breathtaking. There are opportunities to explore the sights aplenty, including the Needles Overlook. From Moab I drove up UT-128 which runs along the Colorado River until it bends east at the base of the Uncompahgre Plateau at the Dewey Bridge site. You then climb a bit to get to the open desert and Interstate 70. There was plenty of streambed showing in the Colorado River and the flat lands near I-70 were as dry as can be. In May 2023 there was a super bloom along that stretch of highway.
The seminar is today at Colorado Mesa University, a 14 mile bicycle ride from Fruita.
Super Bloom along UT-128 during the last road trip with Mrs. Gulch May 2023.
Click the link to read the release on the WMO website:
September 17, 2026
The WMO State of Global Water Resources report is a comprehensive science-based annual assessment of the hydrological cycle and extreme events in 2025 and over the past five years.
Key messages
2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 yearsย
Past 7 years have seen abnormal river flows
Water storage on Earthโs land surface has decreased in past 10 yearsย
Widespread glacier loss across all regions for 4th consecutive year
Asia and Africa are the regions most affected by water-related disasters
Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard hit areas
Rivers across the globe in 2025 had one of the driest years in more than three decades, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). It shows a continuation of the long-term decline in Earthโs freshwater storage and in glacier retreat – trends with serious implications for people and economies in the future.
The WMO State of Global Water Resources Report shows that the water cycle has become more erratic and unpredictable, swinging between too little or too much. The past seven years have seen the fewest rivers with โnormalโ flows since 1991.
Asia and Africa together accounted for at least half of all recorded water-related extreme events and more than 80% of reported associated deaths over the past five years, it says.
The report provides a comprehensive, science-based assessment of the entire water cycle loop, including river discharge, groundwater, evapotranspiration, land water storage, and snow and ice, as well as high-impact events. It covers the year 2025 and summarizes findings of the past five years since it was first published.
Some parts of this cycle are fast โ such as precipitation, river flow, soil moisture โ they respond to weather within days or weeks. Others, like groundwater, glaciers and seasonal snowpack, are slow, they accumulate or deplete over seasons to decades or longer. Traditionally these slow reserves have acted as the planet’s savings account: a buffer that absorbs bad years so that a single drought or a single dry season does not translate directly into a water crisis,โ said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
โWe are depleting that savings account. Global terrestrial water storage has shown a declining trend since 2014โ2016 – a persistent, decade-long signal. For the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass. Groundwater tells a similar story: nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showed conditions outside the historical norm in 2025, and the balance shifted further toward deficit compared with 2024, not toward recovery,โ said Celeste Saulo.
โAt the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters. The strengthening El Niรฑo will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others,โ she said.
The report highlights some major areas of concern:
2025 was one of driest years for river discharge globally in 35 years, with below-normal flows over 36% of global basin area. This is based on data from simulations from 13 global hydrological models, driven by observed weather data.
For the seventh year in a row, the number of river basins with โnormalโ conditions was in a clear minority: ranging between 34-38%, compared to the average of 46% between 1991-2020, according to the report.
Terrestrial water storage โ the total amount of water stored in groundwater, lakes and rivers, soil moisture, vegetation and ice and snow โ has been in decline since mid-2010s.ย
2025 marked the fourth consecutive year with widespread glacier loss across all regions โ leading to short term hazards like floods and long-term water insecurity. Between 2023-2025 glaciers lost mass in each reporting year with cumulative global glacier mass loss at 1400 Gigatonnes of water. This is roughly equal to the water required to fill about 560 million Olympic-sized swimming pools, or about one third of annual freshwater withdrawals.
In each of the past five years, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services around the globe reported record-breaking floods and droughts. Some places have had no recovery time between one event and the next.
โWater respects no borders. A river basin’s water balance depends on what happens in another country. A glacier’s retreat in one country reshapes water availability for populations hundreds of kilometers downstream. This is precisely why we need shared data, shared standards, and shared early warning โ the exact function WMO exists to perform,โ said Celeste Saulo.
Dozens of experts from National Meteorological and Hydrological Services, data centres, researchers and partner institutions shared in situ observations, model outputs and space-based data and contributed to the report, which has expanded from three to 15 hydrological variables since the first edition in 2021. Country coverage has greatly expanded. However, Africa and Asia are still among the least represented regions in terms of hydrological observations in the report, even though they are most affected by extremes.
Key findings
Climate
2025 was one of the warmest years on record. A weak La Niรฑa emerged towards the end of the year after neutral conditions, and there was a predominantly negative Indian Ocean Dipole, which influenced precipitation.
River basins
Across the five reporting years (2021-2025), recurring below-normal river discharge was observed in major parts of the Amazon and La Plata basins, North America, Central and East Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Annual river discharge in 2025 was above-normal to much-above-normal across South and South-East Asia and parts of northern South America. In Africa, there were above-normal flows in the Senegal, Niger, Lake Chad, Orange and Limpopo basins, but much-below-normal discharge in the Nile, Congo and Zambezi basins.
Below-normal to much-below-normal river discharge affected several major regions, including much of North America, the La Plata and Sรฃo Francisco basins of South America, Eastern European basins, the Middle East and Central Asia.
Reservoir and lake levels followed similar geographical trends as for river basins. African lakes were largely much above normal, with Kariba a notable exception.
River flows in 2025 compared with the 1991 to 2020 average, from an ensemble of 13 global hydrological models. Source: Simulations of 13 Global Hydrological Modeling Systems. Note: Boundaries indicate river basins outlines only. The boundaries and names shown and the designations used do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by WMO or the United Nations.
Terrestrial water storage
Terrestrial water storage shows a persistent negative trend since 2014-2016 with increasing area under below-normal conditions.
Between 2021-2025 below-normal terrestrial water storage repeatedly affected the south-western United States, Patagonia and the subtropical Andes, the GangesโIndus headwaters, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and eastern China, while persistent positive anomalies occurred in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the Sahel and the Tibetan Plateau.
In 2025, it was below-normal in northern and southwestern North America, Patagonia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, eastern Brazil, northern India, parts of Northern Europe, the Russian Federation, China and Northern Africa. La Plata in South America showed signs of partial recovery from the long-term drought.
Much-above-normal storage continued from 2024 into 2025 in Central and Southern Africa.
Terrestrial water storage is all the fresh water held on and under land, in groundwater, soil, rivers, reservoirs, snow and ice. This map shows how 2025 compared with the 2002 to 2020 average, measured from space by satellite gravimetry. Note: The boundaries and names shown and the designations used do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by WMO or the United Nations.
Groundwater levels
Persistent groundwater deficits were observed during 2022โ2025 in parts of the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, India, southern Africa and Australia.
Persistent and widespread below-normal to much-below-normal groundwater levels were observed across Central and Eastern Europe, central United States, parts of Mexico, northern and central Chile, northeastern and central-western Brazil, northern South Africa, northwestern India and parts of southern Australia, pointing to a cumulative depletion with multi-year drying trend.
There were above-normal to much-above-normal conditions include parts of France, much of Northern Europe, the southeastern United States, large parts of South Africa, South-East Asia, and eastern Australia.
Snow cover and glaciers
Snow conditions were below normal across Europe in 2025, whilst the Russian Federation and North America showed strong regional contrasts.
In the hydrological year 2025, glaciers lost 408 (ยฑ132) Gigatonnes of mass, equivalent to 1.1 (ยฑ0.4) mm of sea-level rise. It marked the fourth consecutive year in which every major glaciated region recorded a net loss.
Central Asia, South Asia West, Russian Arctic, Iceland, Western Canada and USA all recorded annual mass balances that ranked among the three most negative years on record for that region.
Some regions dominated by smaller glaciers, such as the Caucasus, Western Canada and the USA, and Central Europe may already have reached โpeak water conditions,โ the threshold where the glacier reaches its maximum runoff due to melting.
Annual mass change for glacier regions globally. Each bar shows the global glacier mass change in one hydrological year, from 1976 onwards. Blue means glaciers gained ice, red means they lost it. Hydrological years begin at the start of winter and continue through the end of the following summer. Source: World Glacier Monitoring Service
Extreme events
From 2021-2025, South Americaโs La Plata and Amazon basins, the Middle East and the Greater Horn of Africa experienced persistent multi-year drought conditions, while severe floods repeatedly affected West and Central Africa and South-East Asia.
Asia and Africa were the regions most affected by extreme hydrometeorological events in 2025, with several African countries experiencing major flooding for two (Nigeria) or three consecutive years (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
South and South-East Asia was hit by compound tropical cyclones and intense monsoon, leading to up to 3 600 deaths across affected countries – Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines.
Assessing the economic losses associated with water-related disasters remains challenging in many countries.
Jamaica reported that hurricane Melissa resulted in losses equivalent to 41% of GDP. Cyclone Ditwah cost Sri Lanka around 4% of GDP.
Severe drought gripped East Europe, the Mediterranean, and Middle East and also returned to the Greater Horn of Africa after one of the driest OctoberโDecember seasons on record linked to La Niรฑa and a negative Indian Ocean Dipole.
Coyote Gulch’s Ariya at the Dolores Canyon Overlook trailhead September 16, 2026.
Back in the early 2000s the Gulch’s bought a home between Dolores and Cortez in anticipation of retiring to Montezuma County. We rented out the home and 6 acres, carved out of an old apple and pear orchard, to offset the mortgage payment. We’d visit the renters frequently and spend time driving (and 4-wheeling) around the area and one of Mrs. Gulch’s favorite spots was the Dolores Canyon Overlook. For sentimental reasons the overlook was my driving goal on Wednesday.
The Dolores River Canyon looking upstream September 2024 from the Dolores Canyon Overlook.
In July of this year the Ferris Fire impacted the area.
The Dolores River Canyon looking upstream September 2026.
You can see the clouds in the sky from the monsoonal moisture yesterday. Rain this week had soaked the area and the road to the overlook was very muddy in spots. I worried about getting stuck as soon as I turned off the gravel road onto the dirt road to the overlook. (Note: The Ariya is all-wheel drive and performed well.) I knew about how road conditions can turn muddy and slippery in the area having once encountered the worst of it, slipping and sliding, from the top of the Uncompahgre Plateau down to the San Miguel River near Uravan. We spent the night in the middle of the road because it was getting dark and I feared sliding off, not being able to see well.
Yesterday, as I was heading to the overlook, I passed a motorcyclist that had lost control in a very muddy section. I stopped to help, as we do out here in the West, and as it turned out, I made a new friend. Anna Odyssey was the motorcyclist, I learned, after helping her get the motorcycle upright on my return from the overlook. She is traveling all over on her motorcycle with no particular end point from day to day, camping most of the time, and stopping to learn about the country she is traveling through. (Click the Facebook link.)
I loved that when we got the Triumph motorcycle upright and ready to ride she asked if there were other difficult sections ahead. Of course there were more puddles and slick spots but I was sure, now that she knew what to look for, that keeping her motorcycle saddle up was possible and probable. She said, “I’m going to leave all my stuff here and go to the overlook, I won’t let this road beat me!”
Welcome to the first edition of the Land Deskโs Newswire, a human-curated summary (we are a non-AI shop, FYI) of some of the weekโs biggest headlines that concern land, water, and other Western issues. Iโm still working out the timing of this, and how it will meld with the weekโs other dispatches, so expect some adjustments in coming weeks. Please give it a gander and, as always, I appreciate your feedback.
๐ฃ๐ฝ WATER WATCH ๐
New Mexico officialsย release about 2,000 acre-feet of water from Abiquiu Dam to provide a temporary un-drying of the Rio Grandeโs desiccated riverbedย through Albuquerque in an attempt to nourish stressed vegetation, recharge the aquifer, and to study the effects of such pulses. Audubon Southwest leased about 300 acre-feet of the water from various users, the Middle Rio Grande Conservation District contributed 300 acre-feet more, and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority provided the remaining 1,400 acre-feet from its share of river imported from the Colorado River Basin via the San Juan-Chama Project.ย (Inkstain,ย Laura Paskus,ย KUNM)
Aurora Water โ a municipal utility on Coloradoโs Front Range โ looksย to buy Lower Arkansas Valley farmersโ water rightsย to feed the cityโs future growth, sparking concerns about negative impacts of โbuy and dryโ deals. But officials say it would be a โbuy and (only partially) dryโ deal that keeps some of the water in agriculture.ย (Colorado Sun)
๐ต PUBLIC LANDS ๐ฒ
A new study finds federal land management agenciesย spent $1 billion lessย on vendors in Western states in 2025 compared to 2024, acutely affecting the small business sector. Some of the largest cuts were to wildland fire management investments, particularly on-the-ground suppression work as spending was shifted to aerial firefighting.ย (news release)
Conservation groups file a lawsuitย challenging oil and gas leasing on hundreds of thousands of acres of public landย in big-game migration corridors and wilderness quality lands in Wyoming and Colorado, saying the BLM violated federal law by skirting environmental protections.ย (news release)
The Bureau of Land Managementย seeks public input on 38 proposed oil and gas leases on 66,221 acresย in northwestern Colorado that would be auctioned off in March 2027. The bulk of the parcels are under the jurisdiction of the BLMโs Kremmling and Little Snake River field offices, with one in the Royal Gorge office.ย (news release)
๐ฆซ WILDLIFE WATCH ๐ฆ
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officersย euthanize a lethargic and unresponsive 300-pound male bear in Durango, finding that its stomach and intestines were completely blocked with trash. โWeโve all heard the oft-repeated phrase โgarbage kills bearsโ for years,โ said Bryan Peterson of Bear Smart Durango. โAnd many have asked how in the world does trash get bears killed? Well, in many ways, but sometimes literally. Our communityโs tepid approach to trash management got a bear killed. Thankfully, its pain and suffering was ended.โย (news release)
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officersย โlethally remove,โ i.e. kill, two male yearling wolvesย from two separate packs after the animals were linked to attacks on sheep and cattle in Rio Blanco and Pitkin counties.ย (news release,ย Summit Daily)
๐ฎ GRAZING GAZETTE ๐ฅฉ
A Wyoming advocate shows how the stateโsย agriculture industryโs resource footprint โ in terms of water use for irrigation and land-use for livestock grazing โ significantly dwarfs its statewide economic footprint, and that should be considered before giving ranchers outsized political influence.ย (WyoFile)
๐ข๏ธHYDROCARBON HOEDOWN๐
A pair of peer-reviewed studiesย link Permian Basin oil and gas operations to radioactive plumes and high ozone pollutionย in Loving, New Mexico, and other nearby communities, potentially increasing lung cancer and other health risks.ย (Capital & Main)
The Bureau of Land Management and Southern Ute Indian Tribe launch a planning process toย guide and analyze oil and gas developmentย on 110,000 acres of tribal trust land within the tribeโs land in southwestern Colorado.ย (news release)
โ๏ธ WACKY WEATHER WATCHโก๏ธ
Aย massive sinkhole emerges in actor Nicolas Cageโs oceanfront houseโs drivewayin Malibu, prompting city officials to declare and emergency, evacuate nearby homes, and shut off gas service in the gated community. Officials worry the situation could be worsened by forecasted high tides and rain and long-term weather disturbances resulting from the coming super El Niรฑo.ย (Los Angeles Times)
๐ REGULATORY CAPTURE CHRONICLES ๐ฆ
Radical right-wing U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and fellow House Republicansย launch an investigation of nineteen conservation groups, accusing the entities of profiting at the expense of taxpayers via statutory fee-shifting provisions, which can reimburse the organizations for legal costs when they win in court.ย (AFP,ย news release)
๐ค DATA CENTERS ๐พ
Pinal County, Arizonaโs board of supervisors vote toย reject Vermalandโs proposed data center complexย following widespread local opposition, even though the developer scaled back the original proposal. The scaled-back proposed facility, spread across 3,300 acres, would have included 11 buildings and a gas-fired power plant.ย (AZ Family)
Tribal nations and Indigenous advocatesย push back on data center developmentin Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada, and beyond.ย (Washington State Standard)
Oracle seeks proposals for the development ofย 2 gigawatts of new solar, wind, geothermal, or other renewable energy technologiesย to provide โcarbon-free energy matchingโ for its Project Jupiter data center complex under development in southern New Mexico, which is expected to be powered by gas-fired fuel cells. The firm is also offering $1 million to support carbon capture and sequestration at the facility.ย (news release,ย KRQE)
Creekstone Energy, the developer of the massive Delta Gigasite data center in central Utah, looks toย use untested technology to โcreateโ more waterย than it uses by capturing condensation from natural gas combustion at the plant dedicated to powering the facility.ย (Salt Lake Tribune)
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D)ย opposes Attorney General Kris Mayesโ call for a pause on new data centersย to get a better handle on their water and energy use, acknowledging the concerns are valid but saying a statewide moratorium is the wrong approach.ย (AZ Family)
A peer-reviewed study finds that data centers, which typically combine large capital investments with little local labor demand, canย strain a communityโs public infrastructure without generating widespread economic gains.ย (SSRN)
๐ENERGY TRANSITION ๐
Officials and residents of the Coalmine Canyon Chapter of the Navajo Nation push back against 750-megawatt solar-plus-storage installationย in northern Arizona, saying the developers have been less than transparent and the power will not go to local homes, many of which are off the grid.ย (High Country News)
Accelergen Energyย proposes a 125-megawatt solar-plus-storage installationย on about 900 acres east of Cortez, Colorado. (Durango Herald)
A new study findsย small-scale, front-of-the-meter solar-plus-battery installationscould serve about 32% of Californiaโs largest utilitiesโ peak summer electricity demand; analysts say developing this asset would improve reliability and preserve affordability without significant transmission upgrades.ย (Utility Dive)
๐ DATAVIZ OF THE DAY ๐
The stats for August are in and, well, it was a warm one. This August was the hottest August on record for the contiguous United States, as well as for many counties in the Southwest. It was also the hottest month on record globally, barely edging out July 2023 for the dubious honors.
Last week, there were several areas that had significant rainfall amounts. One area was over Iowa, eastern Nebraska and Kansas, and northwest Missouri, where more than 4 inches fell in central Iowa and southeastern Kansas. Another area was centered over Ohio, West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania, where conditions were already wet. Much of Florida and the Gulf Coast received 2 to 4 inches of precipitation in the past week. Most of the southwest U.S. received little rain, with exceptions of scattered monsoonal precipitation along the New Mexico-Arizona border. Most of Texas and Oklahoma continued to be dry, as was the majority of the western Great Plains.
Temperatures in the southern Great Plains and lower Mississippi valley continued to be very warm, in some locations over 10F above normal. Most of the rest of the continental U.S. was also above normal. The only areas with below normal temperatures for the past week were in northern New England as well as most of the northwest states…
Eastern Kansas had above normal precipitation over the past week; this led to improvement in drought conditions in this area. Eastern Nebraska and eastern South Dakota also had decent rainfall and resulting improvement to drought. Other areas of South Dakota that missed out on the rain had drought degradation. Colorado had drought degradations in the center part of the state, with drought improvements in both the southwest and southeast parts. Extreme drought continues over much of Colorado and Wyoming, western Nebraska and the Dakotas, and in eastern North Dakota. Exceptional drought is observed over much of central Colorado as well as two localized areas in far western Nebraska…
Drought Monitor one week change map ending September 15, 2026.
An area from southwestern Oregon to central Washington into northern Idaho and Montana received some welcome rainfall during the week. The rain resulted in regional improvements in drought conditions. One location that just missed out was in northwest Washington on the Canadian border, resulting in a drought degradation, where continued low streamflows were observed. There were also areas on the California-Nevada border and central Arizona with drought degradation that also received little-to-no rainfall. Extreme drought is shown over much of central Oregon, central Utah, southern Idaho down into northern Nevada, and small areas in northern Washington and southern Arizona. Exceptional drought continues in southern Idaho, northern Nevada, and northeastern Oregon…
Extremely above normal temperatures continued in this region over the past week. Nearly all locations had drought deterioration, with the exceptions of northern Arkansas, northeastern Oklahoma, and coastal Mississippi. Much of Texas and into the Ark-La-Tex area experienced flash drought conditions. In addition to the heat, these areas received little rainfall in the week. Extreme to exceptional drought conditions are noted in far south Texas, most of northern Texas into western and southern Oklahoma, northwestern and northeastern Arkansas, and along the Arkansas-Mississippi border…
Looking Ahead
Over the next five days leading up to next Tuesday, above normal rainfall is forecast in south Florida as well as a large area in southern Wisconsin and Minnesota into eastern Iowa and northern Illinois. The latter area of forecasted rainfall continues to the east through central Michigan, the southern Great Lakes, Pennsylvania, New York, and much of central and southern New England. Other locations with rainfall in the forecast this week are in the Appalachian Mountains, the western Great Plains, and the Four Corners states. Unfortunately, most of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are forecast to receive little rainfall. Dry conditions are also forecast in California, Nevada, and Washington. Much above normal temperatures are forecast to continue this week in the central and southern U.S.
The 6- to 10-day outlook (September 22-26, 2026) favors above normal temperatures continuing over nearly all of the continental United States. Areas most likely to be above normal are again the south into the southeast, plus the far north. Hawaii is also likely to be above normal. For precipitation, the Eastern Seaboard is likely to have above normal rainfall as is the Southwest. The central U.S. into the upper Midwest is likely to have below normal rainfall. Hawaii and Alaska are both likely to have above normal rain during this period.
US Drought Monitor one week change map ending September 15, 2026.
August precipitation varied across the region due to scattered monsoonal thunderstorms. Regional temperatures were above average in August, and Colorado experienced its warmest August on record, while Utah experienced its second warmest on record. Streamflow conditions were below average for most regional rivers, especially in Colorado and Utah, where many streamflow gages observed record-low daily streamflows. Regional drought coverage changed little from the beginning of August to September and is at 96%. El Niรฑo conditions persist, and there is a greater than 90% probability of a very strong El Niรฑo event during fall and winter 2026-27. NOAA seasonal forecasts indicate an increased probability of above average temperatures for the region, and above average precipitation for Colorado, Utah, and southern Wyoming during SeptemberโNovember.
August precipitation varied across the region, from below average precipitation in southern Colorado, southeastern Utah, and northeastern Wyoming, to above average precipitation in northern and eastern Colorado and much of Utah and Wyoming. Monsoonal thunderstorms caused high variability of precipitation in each state. For example, parts of Emery and adjacent Wayne counties in southeastern Utah experienced below 25% of average conditions, while most counties north and west of there experienced above 150โ200% of average conditions.
Regional temperatures were above average in August, with near average temperatures in northern Wyoming. August temperatures were generally 2โ4ยฐF above average, but temperatures for much of western Colorado and eastern Utah were 4โ6ยฐF above average. Small pockets of 6โ8ยฐF above average temperatures occurred in south-central Colorado and southeastern Utah. It was the warmest August on record for Colorado, the second warmest on record for Utah, and the seventh warmest on record for Wyoming. It was the warmest meteorological summer (JuneโAugust) on record for Colorado and Utah, and the sixth warmest on record for Wyoming.
At the beginning of September, streamflow was below average for most regional rivers, especially in Colorado and Utah. On September 9, record-low daily streamflow was recorded at 30 or more sites in Colorado, 10 sites in Utah, and two in Wyoming. Western Colorado streamflows are particularly below average, with most rivers experiencing record-low or bottom 10th percentile daily streamflow observations.
By September 1, regional drought coverage was at 96%. Similar to the beginning of August, drought covered the entire region except for a portion of northeastern Colorado, where monsoonal thunderstorms have continued to help relieve the area of drought conditions. Coverage of moderate (D1) drought conditions decreased slightly to 89% in Colorado, remained at 100% in Utah, and increased slightly in Wyoming to cover 100% of the state. Coverage of exceptional (D4) drought conditions decreased to 12% in Colorado, and extreme (D3) drought conditions remained at 35% in Utah and decreased to 29% in Wyoming, a 15% improvement from the beginning of August.
El Niรฑo conditions persist in the eastern Pacific Ocean, with sea surface temperature anomalies running 1.8ยบC above average in the Niรฑo-3.4 index. There is a greater than 90% probability of a very strong El Niรฑo event during fall and winter 2026-27, with as high as a 98% probability of a very strong event from OctoberโDecember. Current forecasts of peak Pacific Ocean temperatures are 3โ3.5ยบC above average, indicating what could be the strongest El Niรฑo on record. There is a 100% probability of El Niรฑo conditions continuing at least through JanuaryโMarch 2027. NOAA seasonal forecasts indicate an increased probability of above average temperatures for the region, and above average precipitation for Colorado, Utah, and southern Wyoming during SeptemberโNovember, suggesting an active monsoon and the possibility of tropical storm remnants for the remainder of the season.
Significant weather event: Aspen Acres burn scar flooding. On July 28 and 29, severe thunderstorms brought intense rainfall and caused debris flow flooding in the community of Beulah, Colorado. The floodwaters damaged homes, washed out roads, and blocked bridges with debris. The Beulah Fire Protection and Ambulance District prompted emergency evacuations for residents and those along Highway 78. Rainfall rates were 1โ3 inches per hour, and the muddy floodwaters carried rocks, burned trees, propane tanks, and other debris downstream. Highways 78 and 165, and other critical roads, were closed, limiting Beulah Valley access to essential and emergency services. Between Beulah and other nearby communities such as San Isabel and Wetmore, at least 11 homes were damaged by flooding, and many roads and culverts required emergency repairs.
On August 16, in about 1.5 hours, 1โ1.5 inches of rain fell on the same burn scar in Beulah, triggering another major flash flood and resulting in the death of an 80-year-old resident who was swept away downstream by floodwaters. On August 23, Colorado Governor Jared Polis officially requested a Major Disaster Declaration (MDD) from the President and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to support recovery from the Aspen Acres and Gold Mountain Fires, and the post-wildfire flooding and debris flows on both burn scars.
Flash flooding in Beulah, Colorado on July 29, 2026. Credit: Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.
In the struggling Colorado River basin, where water is scarce, the White House has signaled its priorities for how to use the remaining gallons.
Even as scientifically-determined thresholds have been met for releasing water from Glen Canyon Dam for ecological and recreational benefits in Grand Canyon, the Trump administration has decided against those actions in this record-hot year โ deciding not to release cold water from deep in Lake Powell to aid the humpback chub, a threatened fish species, and not to authorize a high-volume release of water to rebuild Grand Canyonโs eroded beaches, which are in terrible condition, according to federal monitoring.
These environmental releases would not change the total volume of water flowing out of Lake Powell over the year, just the timing.
Because the releases bypass the damโs turbines and reduce hydropower generation, which is part of the administrationโs โenergy dominanceโ agenda, the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that manages Glen Canyon Dam, will not be doing them.
โAfter evaluating management alternatives and considering all authorized purposes, the decision was made based on significant hydropower generation concerns under already strained system conditions,โ Reclamation said in a statement in August.
The administrationโs decisions foreshadow more difficult choices ahead. Due to climate change and overuse, the Colorado River is shrinking and warming. Its dams were built and river management goals were laid out during an era that anticipated healthy reservoirs. That is no longer the case. Because Lake Powell and Lake Mead are about a quarter of their capacity or less, the hydrological assumptions that inform current management strategies are outdated, said Jack Schmidt, a scientist who has spent his four-decade career studying the Colorado River.
โEverything needs to be revisited because the driving factors of the Colorado River ecosystem in Grand Canyon are now completely changed and probably forever changed,โ said Schmidt of Utah State Universityโs Center for Colorado River Studies. โEverything was developed in a world of full reservoirs. And now the reservoirs are empty.โ
Tradeoffs Plague Water Managers
Even in the best of times, managing a large dam on a major river is not easy. Dams alter the riverโs natural patterns of flow and temperature. Operators must weigh one set of benefits against another group of costs.
Glen Canyon Dam is one of the thorniest management conundrums. Located near the Arizona-Utah border, the 63-year-old structure has emerged as the most significant water-supply choke point in the Colorado River basin and it is the focus of clamorous debate about water and power infrastructure in a drier climate.
The Colorado River strikes a bright jade color as it flows through Marble Canyon, in northern Arizona, a few miles downstream of the Paria River, a significant source of sand for the Grand Canyon. Photo ยฉ Brett Walton/Circle of Blue
As managers grapple with how much water to release, Glen Canyon Dam is also choking the river of its natural supply of sediment. Without new inputs, sand bars and beaches in Grand Canyon are at risk of disappearing. These features provide habitat, give boaters a place to camp during river trips, and protect archaeological sites.
Most of the riverโs sediment now comes from the Paria River and Little Colorado River, downstream of Glen Canyon. Periodic high-flow water releases from the dam mimic the thunderous floods of the past that carried sediment through Grand Canyon to fortify eroding beaches.
There is enough sediment in the Colorado River below Glen Canyon today to warrant a high-flow release. Yet Reclamation has not done one since 2023. Experts agree that Reclamation is highly unlikely to conduct one this fall either. A final decision will be made in the next few weeks.
The need for a high-flow release is mounting. In August, David Topping, a research hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Surveyโs Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, presented data showing the ill health of Grand Canyon beaches. A typical sand bar is smaller now than in 2016, when the current management plan that established the high-flow triggers was finalized.
The lack of high-flow releases has deprived researchers of crucial data on how the size and duration of these mini-floods, usually one to four days in length, aid beach-building.
Before and after photos of results of the high flow experiment in 2008 via USGS
โWhat can we do if the administration isnโt willing to allow us to use the bypass tubes for high-flow experiments, if thatโs going to be off the table, at least for a while?โ said Wayne Pullan, Reclamationโs Upper Colorado Region director, at a Glen Canyon management meeting in August, asking attendees to consider management options under political constraints.
โWeโre in a pinch point,โ Pullan added. โA real pinch point.โ
Degraded beaches result in a degraded river experience, said David Brown of the Grand Canyon River Guides, a recreation advocacy group. Rafting groups have to compete for limited real estate in what is generally regarded as one of the worldโs premier river corridors.
โWhen thereโs less campable area, that means everyoneโs kind of getting squished together or your toilet is next to where people are sleeping,โ Brown said.
Non-Native Species Thrive in Warm Water
In addition to sediment, water temperature is the other blinking red environmental indicator.
Raft trip on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, in 2019. Photo ยฉTed Wood/The Water Desk
Smallmouth bass were introduced as a sport fish in the upper Colorado River basin in the late 1960s. Voracious feeders, smallmouth bass view other fish as the sport, happily preying on threatened native species like the humpback chub, an eighteen-inch fish in Grand Canyon with a distinctive smooshed silhouette.
Listed as endangered in 1967, the humpback chub has now bounced back thanks to tens of millions of dollars of conservation investment. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service upgraded the humpback chub to โthreatenedโ status in 2018.
Diagram showing critical reservoir levels at Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Land Desk diagram with data from the Bureau of Reclamation.
Smallmouth bass live in Lake Powell, preferring the layer of warm water closest to the surface. As the lake shrinks, that warm layer has now reached the level of the penstocks, which pull water into Glen Canyon Damโs turbines for hydropower generation before being released downstream.
In these low-water conditions, the fear is that more smallmouth bass will be delivered into the Colorado River below Glen Canyon.
Once there, they will find a habitable environment. Smallmouth bass spawn when water temperatures exceed 60 degrees Fahrenheit. This year, that mark was breached in June. Today, the river at Lees Ferry, about 16 miles downstream of Glen Canyon Dam, is about 70 F.
These conditions โ when the river temperature is above 60 F for three consecutive days โ are supposed to trigger a release of cold water from deep in Lake Powell. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that this โcool mixโ is the โonly conservation measure proven to limit smallmouth bass reproduction.โ Evidence from cool mix releases in 2024 and 2025, which knocked down smallmouth bass numbers, supports that conclusion.
Cool mix, however, will not happen in 2026 due to the Trump administrationโs desire to generate hydropower.
The last cool mix flow, in 2025, cost the Western Area Power Administration, which markets federal hydropower, $6.1 million to replace that electricity for its contractors.
Instead of cool mix, Reclamation says it is focusing on other options to keep smallmouth bass from establishing downstream of Glen Canyon and to preserve the humpback chubโs hard-won conservation gains. In the short term that means stunning the bass with electric-shock tools and physically removing them from the water.
In the longer term, Reclamation is considering installing infrastructure to regulate the temperature of the water that passes through Glen Canyon. The agency calls this one of its โdurable structural solutions.โ
An Uncertain Future
Cool mix and high-flow releases are an attempt to rebalance an ecosystem that the dams destabilized. Congress passed the Grand Canyon Protection Act of 1992, which orders Reclamation to operate Glen Canyon Dam in a manner that protects and reduces harm to the โnatural and cultural resources and visitor use.โ That is, fish, tribal archaeological sites, and rafting.
The act required an environmental impact statement for Glen Canyon Dam that would analyze the actions required to achieve the broad environmental-protection goals set by Congress.
It was a โcompromise to really put all the resources on the same playing field,โ said Jen Pelz of the Grand Canyon Trust. In her view, decisions this year tilt in one direction โ hydropower. โI donโt feel like theyโre being balanced right now.โ
Because the river guides were instrumental in lobbying for Grand Canyon protections, the present-day failures to uphold the actโs goals are all the more galling, Brown said. โItโs very hard to watch it get ignored.โ
Glen Canyon Damโs powerhouse holds the electricity-generating turbines. Photo ยฉ Brett Walton/Circle of Blue
The administration is prioritizing hydropower when hydropower is at a pivot point.
Generation at Glen Canyon is down more than 40% from when Lake Powell was full. Utilities are turning to solar and wind to cover some of the generation losses, while utility-scale batteries are helping to replace the capacity and grid-regulating functions that a large dam provides.
The decision to favor hydropower over ecology reflects bigger problems with the Colorado Riverโs infrastructure. Glen Canyon Dam is not designed for the river as it exists today. Reclamation wants to keep Lake Powell high enough to generate hydropower because the damโs other outlets to deliver water downstream are untested over long periods and were damaged in a previous high-flow release.
Lower basin states and tribes, including Arizona, California, Nevada, and the Gila River Indian Community, have asked the federal government to update Glen Canyonโs infrastructure for water delivery and power generation. Reclamation is assessing three options and expects that study to be released in early 2027. Any additional action will require congressional approval and funding.
Along with the infrastructure problems, man-made climate change is sapping the river and heating up its water. Ecologists consider the Grand Canyon a โnovel ecosystem,โ meaning its native species and natural processes have been disrupted and rearranged by human meddling.
To Schmidt, the former chief of the U.S. Geological Surveyโs Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center, this suggests a wholesale rethinking not just of the riverโs infrastructure but also of our ecological goals for the Colorado River.
โWe as a society get to play God in deciding what attributes of that ecosystem we value, which ones we want to work hard to preserve and which ones we donโt,โ he said. โThe answer is not an obvious one.โ
This story was produced by Circle of Blue, in partnership withThe Water Deskat the University of Colorado Boulderโs Center for Environmental Journalism.
Coyote Gulch’s Ariya charging at the Rivian Adventure Network in Del Norte, September 14, 2026.
I charged twice between Denver and Cortez. This was the first road trip to the Colorado Plateau for the Ariya so I was cautious. My plan was to leave Denver at 100% charge, lunch and charging to 80% at Mojo’s Eatery in Salida, a boost and charge to 80% in Del Norte, then charge to 80% in Pagosa Springs for the final leg to Cortez. The Ariya range is superb, nearly 300 miles at 100% and there are CCS1 and Tesla chargers all over Colorado now!
Coyote Gulch’s Leaf during the Monte Vista Crane Festival March 8, 2024. It was cold!
I’ve charged at Mojo’s (ChargePoint) many times to and from the San Luis Valley. I needed the older style CHAdeMOย connector and the Colorado Energy Office ChargePoint installations usually have one. With the Ariya I have access to all CCS1 and most Tesla charging installations (with an adapter). Rivian has it right, plug in your car and swipe your credit card to pay — no app required. In Pagosa Springs I charged at the Tesla installation as you head west out of town. All of the charging was very fast
Now is the time for you to electrify your transportation. Humans need to stop burning carbon to have any hope of slowing Climate Change — we owe it to the species we are wiping out.
Coyote Gulch’s Turbo Vado electric bicycle at the confluence of Clear Creek and the South Platte River April 2025.
Pont du Gard, in Vers-Pont-du-Gard, Gard department, South France. Photo provided by Wikipedia.
by Robert Marcos
Two years before his death during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, the Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder marveled at Rome’s aqueduct’s – which at their peak supported a million people in 200 cities across the Roman Empire.1
Pliny wrote, โIf we take into account the abundant supply of water for public and private use, and then consider the distances traversed, the arches built, the mountains pierced, and the valleys leveled, we must admit that nothing more marvelous has ever existed in the whole world.โ 2 At its height, the imperial capital of Rome was supplied by eleven major aqueducts which transported over 800 acre feet of fresh water into the capital every day. Because the system relied entirely on gravity rather than modern pumps, the water flowed continuously day and night. This imported water was primarily used in three ways –
Public Fountains: Over 1,200 public basins and street fountains provided the primary source of clean drinking water for ordinary citizens.3
Public Baths: Nearly 900 public bath complexes consumed the majority of the incoming water, operating as the social, cultural, and hygienic hubs of Roman daily life.4
Private Luxury & Industry: The remaining water went to wealthy citizens who paid for private pipelines directly to their villas, as well as to industrial sites like mills and tanneries.5
To achieve a precise downward slope – sometimes as little as 1 foot of drop for every 4,000 feet of distance – ancient Roman engineers relied on three primary surveying tools. These tools allowed them to measure horizontal lines, vertical angles, and slopes across miles of uneven terrain. Roman aqueducts were constructed primarily from local volcanic stone (like tufa and travertine) and durable fired brick, bound together by a revolutionary pozzolanic concrete made from volcanic ash and lime, that allowed structures to be set underwater and grow stronger over time. Underground tunnels were carved directly into solid bedrock or lined with stone masonry, while internal channels were meticulously sealed with opus signinumโa waterproof hydraulic mortar mixed with crushed terracotta, to prevent leaks. Water was then carried over the famous stone-arched bridges, while heavy-duty terracotta tiles or thick lead pipes were used for localized distribution and pressurized siphons.
Although the ancient Assyrians are credited with the first “above ground” water conveyance, over the centuries the technology continued to be refined –
The Assyrians(c. 9thโ7th Century BC): The Assyrians were the first to move beyond simple mud-brick irrigation canals to construct large-scale stone water networks. Under King Sennacherib, they built the Jerwan Aqueduct, the earliest known structures of its kind, using over two million blocks of ashlar masonry to carry freshwater across a valley to Nineveh. To prevent leaks, they lined the stone channels with a crude but effective waterproof layer of bitumen (tar).
The Babylonians(c. 7thโ6th Century BC): As Babylon expanded, engineers mastered urban water management by integrating the Euphrates River directly into the city’s defenses and architecture through complex moats, dams, and subterranean brick channels. To combat flat terrain and deliver water to high elevationsโmost famously the legendary Hanging Gardensโthey pioneered mechanical lifting technologies, including early iterations of the chain pump and mechanical lifts.
The Persians(c. 6thโ5th Century BC): Confronted with arid desert landscapes, the Persians invented the qanat system, an engineering marvel of gently sloping underground tunnels driven horizontally into hillsides to tap into deep mountain aquifers. This breakthrough allowed water to flow entirely via gravity across miles of burning desert without evaporating. It required the development of precise vertical ventilation shafts used by miners to haul out debris and regulate airflow.
The Greeks(c. 6thโ3th Century BC): Hydraulic Physics and Pressure SiphonsGreek engineers shifted the focus toward physics, geometry, and public sanitation, transitioning from open channels to enclosed, subterranean terracotta pipe networks. By sealing their systems, they mastered hydraulic pressure and invented the inverted siphon, allowing them to force water down into deep valleys and back up the other side to supply hilltop citadels. They also engineered massive feats of subterranean surveying, such as the Tunnel of Eupalinos, a half-mile aqueduct carved through a mountain from both sides simultaneously.
Just days after President Donald Trump angered U.S. ranchers by waiving tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef (and whatever other meat-adjacent-material may pass as beef), he threw the livestock industry a bone by ordering a โreviewโ of federal Endangered Species Act protections for gray and Mexican wolves. The order also instructs the Interior Department to push states into removing any state-specific protections and to โrevise their standards for lethal takings of gray wolves and Mexican wolves to assist ranchers in combating predation.โ
In other words, Trump wants to revive the late 19th and early 20th century campaign to exterminate wild predators to benefit ranchers. Will this please a handful of public lands livestock operators who are ideologically inclined to hate wolves, whether they affect their operations or not? Sure. Will it save the American rancher, or even offset the influx of foreign beef? Nope.
Wolves do kill cattle if they are not adequately protected (and the rancher is compensated for the lost livestock), and they can have other impacts on ranching operations in wild areas. But study after study has shown that other factors โ from weather and climate, to sickness and disease โ account for a far greater share of cattle and calf mortalities.
This is the administrationโs latest ploy in its quest to boost the number of cattle on public lands. It is also peddling vacated grazing allotments and easing the already decidedly lax regulations on grazing.
Federal staffing rosters show the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has lost 36% of its staff under the Trump administration, dripping from 9,957 staffers to 6,333 between 2024 and 2026, likely exacerbating a backlog of Endangered Species Act listing decisions.ย (news release)
Milkweed and sweet peas along the Farmers Ditch in the North Fork Valley (and a reminder that irrigation ditches support more than just crops). Jonathan P. Thompson photo.
๐ย COLORADO RIVER CHRONICLESย ๐ง
The irrigation canals, laterals, and ditches are going dry in the Colorado Riverโs Upper Basin weeks before the growing season comes to an end, forcing farmers to rely on September rains or their own storage to get their crops to harvest time. It goes to show that even without mandatory cuts, many Upper Basin water users experience water shortages during dry years.
The biggest and latest user to get cut off by low river flows was the Grand Valley Water Users Association, which began drawing down its Government Highline Canal as โthe river flows drop to undeliverable levels.โ Flows in that canal fell from almost 1,500 cfs at the end of August to about 725 cfs early this week. The more senior Orchard Mesa Irrigation District and Grand Valley Irrigation Company continued to pull water from the river and deliver it to irrigators.
In the North Fork Valley, all but the most senior ditches were shut off weeks ago, after Paonia Reservoir hit dead pool. And on the Dolores River, even the most senior water rights holders โ the Montezuma Valley Irrigation District โ lost their water at the beginning of this month. Usually it holds out for at least another couple of weeks. (Other water users received dramatically curtailed amounts throughout the irrigating season).
In the Grand Valley, the canalโs loss was the riverโs gain: The Colorado River near Palisade, after running as low as 42 cfs this summer, bounced back to around 300 cfs at the end of August. A corresponding increase in flow can be seen at the USGS gage1 near Cisco. This little boost, combined with a few intense, but patchy storms, and a slight increase in releases from Flaming Gorge Reservoir, have brought up inflows into Lake Powell, somewhat slowing the drop in surface levels.
Dolores River watershed
The Dolores River, on the other hand, remains virtually dry downstream of McPhee Dam, and McPhee Reservoirโs surface level is currently about 12 feet lower than it was a year ago.
A tale of water inequality in the West — Jonathan P. Thompson, “I wrote the essay [click the link]โabout my parentsโ farmโs ditch in the North Fork Valley of Western Coloradoโin 2018, which was one of the regionโs driest years on record. The essay is every bit as pertinent today, an equally dry time for most of the Western Slope, even if some details have changed: My sister owns the farm nowโalong with the robust water rightsโโฆ”
The Central Arizona Projectโs board of directorsย authorizes its attorneys to take legal action โif necessaryโ to protect its allotment of Colorado River against the Bureau of Reclamationโs plans for operating the riverโs infrastructure in the coming decade. The CAP stands to lose the most water under a shortage, as Arizona agreed to junior water rights in exchange for federal funding for the vast plumbing project that delivers river water to the central and southern parts of the state. Nevada already sued the federal government over potential cuts to its share of water.ย (Arizona Republic)
Western Colorado anglers and boatersย call on the Bureau of Reclamation to increase water releases from Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal Reservoirs to preserve streamflows in the Gunnison River in the Black Canyon, the Gunnison Gorge, and further downstream, saying the decision to reduce releases to protect reservoir levels has โexerted a toll on a vital and cherished natural resource.โย (Aspen Journalism)
๐คย DATA CENTER WATCHย ๐พ
The Big Data Center Buildup drives up electricity demandย in Wyoming and spurs a wave of proposed gas plants, some of which would serve the grid and others dedicated to powering server farm facilities.ย (WyoFile)
โ๏ธย MINING MONITORย โ๏ธ
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe says it will pull out all of the stops to block potential mining projectsย in the La Plata Mountains in southwestern Colorado, adding to the list of entities opposing Metallic Mineralsโย exploratory drilling projectย on the western side of the range.ย (Durango Herald)
New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richardย puts state trust lands off-limits to new uranium mining leases, and orders her office to instead focus on cleaning up the more than 1,000 former uranium mining-related sites in the state. The order does not affect private or federal lands.ย (news release)
Anfield Energy looks to raise at least $50 millionย to finance its plan to refurbish and reopen the Shootaring uranium mill โ which has been idle since 1982 โ near Ticaboo, Utah. Anfield is the firm behind the Velvet-Wood uranium mine in the Lisbon Valley and has designs on mining near Slick Rock, Colorado.ย (Northern Miner)
๐ตย PUBLIC LANDSย ๐ฒ
A federal judge temporarily blocks the Trump administrationโs effortย to evict bison from public lands in Montana, finding that the Bureau of Land Managementโs decision to kick the animals off American Prairie-held grazing leases was likely โarbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise not in accordance with the law.โย (Public Domain)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture releases its final Forest Service reorganization plan, which includes moving the headquarters to Salt Lake City and shuttering 23 facilities nationwide, including four in California, one in New Mexico, and one in Oregon, with the remainder being in non-Western states. The USDA says โless than 200โ of the agencyโs 30,000 employees are expected to need to relocate, mostly from Washington, D.C. to Fort Collins, Salt Lake City, or a newly established center.ย (news release,ย OPB)
The Center for Western Priorities fact-checks Interior Secretary Doug Burgumโs numerous erroneous statements about the administrationโs dramatic reduction of Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, finding that on this topic (and others) the cabinet member is a serial liar.ย (Westwise)
๐ ย RANDOM REAL ESTATE ROOMย ๐ค
Anita Verma-Lallian, a real estate investor who made her name buying and selling multi-million-dollar Phoenix-area properties for data centers, unveils a plan for a massive development in Tonopah, Arizona. Tentative plans for the $6 billion to $10 billion development include a movie studio, amusement park, hotels, retail, and a data center complex. The property is adjacent to one where Bill Gatesโ investment firm is planning a โfuturistic smart city.โย (Phoenix Business Journal via KTAR)
๐ปย TRANSPORTATIONย ๐
The Utah Department of Transportation completes the $152 million Energy Corridorย highway improvement project on State Routes 162 and 262 in San Juan County. The routes pass through the Aneth Oil Field and could potentially be used for uranium ore haul trucks traveling from New Mexico mines to the White Mesa Mill near Blanding.ย (ABC4)
๐คฏย ANNALS OF INANITYย ๐คก
When will it stop!?!ย Amid a flurry of inane, bizarre, and cognitively-impaired social media posts, President Donald Trump on Sunday suggested New Mexicoโs name should be changed to โNew America.โย ย (CNN)
๐ย TODAYโs DATAVIZย ๐
Are coal and electricity consumption getting back together? For the latter half of the 20th century, U.S. coal consumption climbed in tandem with electricity demand: As Americans used more power, more coal was burned to generate that power, and vice versa. In 2008, electricity demand plummeted due to the financial crisis, dragging coal consumption down with it.
While electricity demand rebounded along with the economy, and then plateaued, coal-burning continued dropping precipitously; the two phenomena had been decoupled from one another. But over the last three years electricity demand has shot back up, in large part due to data centersโ guzzling up a lot of power, but also because of electrification of transportation and buildings, and an increasing need for air-conditioning to fend off rising temperatures. And last year the electric power sectorโs coal consumption shot back up as well. Is the decoupling being undone? Or is this just a minor blip? Only time will tell.
Dataviz by the Land Desk using stats from the Energy Information Administration.
๐ธ PARTING SHOT ๐๏ธ
Continuing with the opening theme โฆ Sign near Bowie, Colorado. Jonathan P. Thompson photo.
1 Yes, I use the archaic โgageโ instead of โgaugeโ when referring to USGS streamflow monitors, not just because Iโm archaic, but because thatโsย what the USGS does.
Below is the Precipitation Accumulation in South Platte graph from the NRCS for September 14, 2026. This morning precipitation, at the SNOTEL stations, is at 74% of the median (down 2% one week), and 72% of the water year median (no change one week). There are 16 days left in the water year.
There’s a chance for showers/thunderstorms today, showers are likely Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with a chance for thunderstorms Friday, and a chance for showers/thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday in the central mountains. There’s a slight chance for showers/thunderstorms today, a chance for showers are Tuesday, a chance for thunderstorms Wednesday, showers are likely Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, then a chance for a chance for showers/thunderstorms Sunday in the northern mountains. There’s a slight chance for showers/thunderstorms today and Tuesday, a chance for showers Wednesday, showers are likely Thursday, with a chance for thunderstorms Friday, and a chance for showers and thunderstorms Saturday with a slight chance for showers and thunderstorms Sunday, down here, about 350 miles from the La Plata River and Cherry Creek Ditch. From Wikipedia:
Hinderlider v. La Plata River & Cherry Creek Ditch Co., 304 U.S. 92 (1938), is a US Supreme Court case…The Court emphasized that the La Plata River is an interstate stream, and its water must be equitably apportioned between Colorado and New Mexico. The 1898 Colorado decree could not grant the Ditch Company rights exceeding Colorado’s equitable share of the river’s water. The Compact, as a legislative agreement between the states with Congressional approval, was a valid mechanism for apportioning the river’s water and binding on all water claimants, including those with pre-existing rights. The Court rejected the argument that the Compact violated the Ditch Company’s vested rights, noting that the Compact’s provisions, including the rotation of water flow, were designed to maximize the beneficial use of the river’s water. The Court found no evidence of procedural infirmities or inequities in the negotiation, ratification, or implementation of the Compact.
The United States Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the Supreme Court of Colorado. The Court held that the La Plata River Compact was valid and binding, and the actions of the State Engineer in administering the Compact were lawful. The Ditch Company’s rights under the 1898 decree were limited to Colorado’s equitable share of the river’s water, as determined by the Compact.
An archetypical example of such federal common law is that relating to disputes betweenย ย statesย of the United States,ย ย Hinderliderย was the first case to reaffirm the existence of federal common law for other purposes, specifically here, the interpretation of anย ย interstate compactย governingย ย water rightsย between states.
La Plata and Cherry Creek Ditch headworks after new construction. Photo credit: Southwestern Colorado Water Conservancy District
Hereโs a look at the 7-Day Colorado precipitation map through September 13, 2026 from the High Plains Regional Climate Center. Precipitation in the South Platte Basin along the Continental Divide of the Americas ranged from 0.00โ to 0.40โ.
Hereโs the 7-Day percent of normal precipitation map through September 13, 2026 from the High Plains Regional Climate Center. Precipitation in the South Platte River Basin along the Continental Divide of the Americas was 0% to 75% of normal.
Below is the 7-day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast for the week of September 14, 2026. Precipitation is anticipated for the mountains of the South Platte River Basin and may total up to 1.50โณ.
Below are the 8-14 day outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center, issued September 13, 2026, for temperature and precipitation, for the week starting September 21, 2026. The CPC expects above normal temperatures and above normal precipitation for the mountains of the South Platte River Basin.
Below is the Colorado Drought Monitor map from September 8, 2026. There were one class improvements in Weld, Logan, and Sedgwick counties. Drought and abnormal dryness covers 93.81% of Colorado. The South Platte Basin is experiencing Abnormally Dry, Moderate, Severe, Extreme, and Exceptional drought conditions.
Below is the Colorado Drought Monitor one week change map ending September 8, 2026.
Hereโs the US Drought Monitor Map from last week along with the one week U.S. change map.
Finally, the Colorado Climate Center released their monthly wrap-up of Colorado climate recently. From the summary:
August was another record-warm month for Colorado, the 3rd in calendar year 2026 and the 4th in Water Year 2026. August also ended the warmest climatological summer on record for Colorado. There were three more heat waves in August and several of the warmest August days the state has experienced in at least 75 years. Precipitation was varied across the state, with some locations getting intense thunderstorm rainfall and hazardous flash flooding, and other spots seeing very little rain and worsening drought. Water Year 2026 continues to be the warmest on record by a large margin, and the 6th driest. Calendar year 2026 through August is also the warmest on record.
Colorado ranchers who own some of the stateโs most scenic landscapes are joining new research efforts to better understand emerging water quality issues in the Yampa and Gunnison basins, among others.
Pressured by rising stream temperatures and shrinking flows due to climate change, rivers and lakes across the state are showing signs of distress, including algae blooms, some of which are toxic.
At the same time, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Colorado State University are analyzing water quality and testing how voluntary best management practices, rather than strict regulations, can protect these hallmark water bodies.
Philip Rossi grows hay and runs a cattle operation in the Upper Yampa River Basin above Stagecoach Reservoir. He is among the first ranchers to agree to allow scientists to monitor the water quality, and soon the temperature, of the irrigation water that runs off from his hay meadows.
So far the news has been good, Rossi said. Little if any of the fertilizer he applies to his hay reaches the stream and in the years heโs been working with the CSU researchers, the use of nonfertilized grass strips along the creek that runs through his property has reduced that number even further.
โWhat I learned is that I wasnโt wasting money. The fertilizer I was putting on was being used, and just as important I wasnโt affecting the stream.โ
With results from the first three-year study officially out, another even broader effort involving more ranches is underway. It will add the monitoring of stream temperatures to the analysis.
Erik Wardle, director of Colorado State Universityโs Agricultural Water Quality Program, said there was little water quality data available in remote regions such as the Yampa Basin. โWe wanted some real world data on whatโs happening on our ranches and our cow-calf operations.โ
As word of the research has spread, more ranchers have come forward to participate, despite skepticism and worry about government efforts to monitor what theyโre doing. โEarly on I was doing a lot of cold calling, asking ranchers to participate. And a lot of them said, โAre you crazy?โ But now I would say 85% of what weโre doing is being driven by these producers. These ranchers have put themselves out there,โ Wardle said.
Even in these pristine areas of Colorado, no one expects water quality worries to subside in the warmer future. In response, water agencies in the area are looking for ways to change the way they operate to help streams.
โWater quality on the West Slope has always been assumed to be great,โ said Andy Rossi, general manager of the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District, which owns Stagecoach Reservoir. He is not related to Philip Rossi, the rancher.
โHere we are in snowpack-dominated basins with pristine wilderness areas driving our water supply. But 10 years ago we started seeing changes, like toxic algae blooms in Stagecoach Reservoir and Steamboat Lake.โ
Since then, the water district has shifted into high gear to understand whatโs happening and why, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a water quality modeling and monitoring program.
Nothing that has been uncovered yet has exceeded a state standard, Rossi said, โyet we still have potentially toxic algae blooms. The assumption has always been that ag is the source of our troubles. But we felt it was unfair to jump to that conclusion without doing the strict science to figure it out.โ
Can best practices be shared between ranches?
With early research results in hand, Tyson Ingels, a veteran water quality regulator at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, said the state hopes to avoid a strict regulatory approach for these remote high country lakes and streams, relying on voluntary efforts instead.
โThis is a very positive study,โ he said. โFor mountain hay we didnโt have the best data on how best management practices could impact nutrient levels. This was an area that needed to be better understood.โ
Looking ahead, Ingels said the state wants to take a measured approach to these regional water quality issues. That the best management practices that are being used on the Rossi Ranch and elsewhere are working well indicates that water quality goals can likely be achieved without a heavy-handed regulatory effort.
Philip Rossi said heโs feeling optimistic, in part because of all the scientific groundwork that is being laid, as well as the early encouraging results of the studies.
He believes that the temperature studies of the water that is returning to the streams, will also show minimal impact.
The rationale, he said, is that water used to flood irrigate fields seeps into the groundwater, flowing to the stream later, when it has cooled down. This was the belief held by his father and grandfather, and Rossi believes the new studies will uphold those beliefs. โThe researchers are going to find out the things that my dad told me and that my grandpa used to sayโ are true, he said.
August was another record-warm month for Colorado, the 3rd in calendar year 2026 and the 4th in Water Year 2026. August also ended the warmest climatological summer on record for Colorado. There were three more heat waves in August and several of the warmest August days the state has experienced in at least 75 years. Precipitation was varied across the state, with some locations getting intense thunderstorm rainfall and hazardous flash flooding, and other spots seeing very little rain and worsening drought. Water Year 2026 continues to be the warmest on record by a large margin, and the 6th driest. Calendar year 2026 through August is also the warmest on record.
Early gold mining operations before Arizona became a state. Photos provided by Western Mining History.
by Robert Marcos
The gold fever that brought tens of thousands of miners into Northern California in 1848 led to related discoveries of gold at La Paz in 1862 (before Arizona was a state), and in 1896 on the Klondike River.
Smaller gold deposits – like those in New Mexico’s Ortiz Mountains, had been identified earlier than these but they lacked the massive infrastructure, communications, and population density that was needed to turn small gold deposits into a major excavations. Furthermore, before the signing of the Treaty of Hidalgo, most of the American West was under Mexican rule which made the large-scale migration to the region more difficult.
At La Paz – a full year before Arizona was even a territory – there were 5,000 miners working hundreds of gold claims on both sides of the Colorado River. These miners and the hundreds of workers who supported them were desperate to find a way to transport people and the tons of supplies needed at these remote sites: which included the small Arizona towns of Quartzsite, Ehrenberg, and Bouse.
Steamboats came to the rescue
The first steam-powered paddleboat to navigate the Colorado River was the Uncle Sam. Designed by Domingo Marcucci and built in San Francisco, the 65-foot-long, side-wheel paddle steamer was shipped in pieces to Port Isabel on the river’s delta. It was reassembled and launched in November 1852 to carry military supplies 120 miles upstream to Fort Yuma. Driven by a tiny 20-horsepower steam engine, the Uncle Sam struggled to make headway against the strong currents (going in the opposite direction), and it took 15 long days in order to complete its first voyage.1
The Cocopah – the River’s Largest Steamboat
Cocopah was the largest ship used during the Colorado River steamboat era. The sternwheel paddle steamer was built for $35,000 by the George A. Johnson & Company in San Francisco and it was the fifth steamboat to work along the Colorado River. Cocopahโs sturdy engine could carry 100 tons of cargo against the strongest of river currents. The Cocopah was 140 feet long, 29 feet wide, and had a (very shallow) draft of 19 inches, even fully loaded – which was perfect for navigating over shallow water and sandbars.
After being assembled the at Gridiron Landing in Sonora, Cocopah was launched in August of 1859 and captained by David C. Robinson – an experienced captain who formerly steered the steamboat Explorer in a Colorado River voyage. The Cocopah continued its travels along the Colorado River until 1867. Afterward the Cocopah was moved onshore and used to house workers at Port Isabel, near the point where the Colorado River meets the Sea of Cortez.2
Steamship Operations Brought to a Sudden End by the Railroad
The arrival of the Southern Pacific Railroad in Yuma, Arizona, in 1877 dealt a fatal blow to the Colorado River steamboat era. The railroad broke the riverboats’ monopoly on the transportation of cargo and passengers to regions that had previously been hard to reach. Trains moved goods across the desert in a fraction of the time and at significantly lower cost than the steamboats. As rail lines expanded across the Southwest over the following decades, they systematically bypassed the river, rendering the expensive process of shipping supplies upstream entirely obsolete.3
Synopsis:ย ย El Niรฑo is strengthening, with a greater than 90% chance of a very strong event during the Northern Hemisphere fall and winter 2026-27.
El Niรฑo strengthened further over the past month, with sea surface temperature anomalies exceeding +3.0ยฐC in the eastern equatorial Pacific. Except for the Niรฑo-4 index, which decreased to +0.1ยฐC in August, values in the other Niรฑo indices increased, reaching +1.8ยฐC in Niรฑo-3.4, +2.5ยฐC in Niรฑo-3, and +3.4ยฐC in Niรฑo-1+2. The equatorial subsurface temperature index (average from 180ยฐ-100ยฐW) remained steady during August, reflecting a deeper-than-average thermocline. Subsurface temperatures continued to be significantly above average, with widespread anomalies in excess of +10.0ยฐC at depth. Low-level westerly wind anomalies and upper-level easterly wind anomalies extended from the western to the east-central equatorial Pacific. Enhanced convection and rainfall persisted from the central to the eastern Pacific, while anomalies remained suppressed over Indonesia. The traditional and equatorial Southern Oscillation indices remained negative. Collectively, the coupled ocean-atmosphere system reflected a strengthening El Niรฑo.
The CPC Official ENSO outlook, which synthesizes multiple models from North America and abroad, indicates El Niรฑo will continue to strengthen through the end of the year. During the October-December 2026 season, there is a 75% chance of a historic event that would exceed the strength of previous El Niรฑo events dating back to 1950 (+2.5ยฐC or more for a 3-month RONI value). With an event of this magnitude, the chances of experiencing impacts consistent with El Niรฑo are larger, though not guaranteed (see CPC outlooks for probabilities of seasonal anomalies). In summary, El Niรฑo is strengthening, with a greater than 90% chance of a very strong event during the Northern Hemisphere fall and winter 2026-27.
Click the link to read the article on the NOAA website:
September 10, 2026
August Highlights:
August was the warmest on record for the globe, eclipsing the previous tied records of 2023 and 2024 by 0.14ยฐF (0.08ยฐC). The JuneโAugust three-month season was also record-warm.
Global sea surface temperature reached an all-time high in August.
El Niรฑo conditions persisted during the month, driving record-high temperatures across vast areas of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.
Global land surface temperature was near-record warm for August and JuneโAugust.
The Northern Hemisphere experienced its warmest summer, while the Southern Hemisphere had a near-record warm winter.
The Arctic and Antarctic had a below-average sea ice extent.
Global tropical cyclone activity was above average with 19 tropical storms.
Map of global notable weather and climate events in August 2026. Credit: NOAA
Temperature
The global surface temperature in August 2026 was 2.38ยฐF (1.32ยฐC) above the 20th-century averageโthe warmest August in the 1850โ2026 record, eclipsing the previous tied records set in 2023 and 2024 by 0.14ยฐF (0.08ยฐC). It marked the 48th-consecutive August with global temperatures above the 20th-century average (the last below-average August occurred in 1978), and all 10 of the warmest Augusts on record have occurred since 2016. Global ocean temperatures set a new record high, while global land temperatures were near-record warm.
Global Temperature Percentiles for August 2026. Red and orange indicates warmer than average, blue indicates colder than average and gray indicates that it tied with more than 10% of the record. Credit: NOAA
During August 2026, above-average temperatures covered most global land and ocean surfaces. Notable temperature departures of at least +3.6ยฐF (+2.0ยฐC) spanned Europe, Africa, Asia, Antarctica, parts of North and South America, North Pacific Ocean, and a vast area of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (consistent with ongoing El Niรฑo conditions). Record-high August temperatures were mainly present across Greenland, Africa, and parts of Europe, Asia, North and South America, the Atlantic, Indian, Southern and Canadian Arctic oceans as well as extensive areas of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Below-average temperatures were limited to parts of the Arctic, eastern Russia and Antarctica. However, no land or ocean areas had record-cold August temperatures.
Regionally, most continents experienced a top-10 warmest August on record. North America and Africa both experienced their warmest August on record, while Asia experienced its second-warmest August. The Arctic recorded its third-warmest August, followed by South America and Europe each recording their fourth-warmest. Oceania had its eighth warmest, while Antarctica experienced an above-average August, its rank fell outside its top 10.
Seasonal
Globally, the average surface temperature from JuneโAugust 2026 was the highest (+2.18ยฐF / +1.21ยฐC) in NOAAโs 177-year record. The JuneโAugust period marks the meteorological summer for the Northern Hemisphere and winter for the Southern Hemisphere. During this three-month period, the Northern Hemisphere experienced its warmest meteorological summer, while the Southern Hemisphere experienced its second-warmest meteorological winter.
Year-to-date
Looking at the year-to-date, the JanuaryโAugust global surface temperature was second highest on record. According to NCEIโs Global Annual Temperature Outlook, it is very likely that 2026 will rank among the five warmest years on record, with the highest probabilities favoring the second-warmest year on record.
Sea Ice
Global sea ice extent was the fourth smallest for August in the 48-year record, covering 8.50 million square miles, which is 870,000 square miles below the 1991โ2020 average. The Arctic had its 11th-lowest August extent on record, falling 340,000 square miles below average. Meanwhile, the Antarctic sea extent was 530,000 square miles below average and the third-smallest August extent.
Map of the Antarctic (left) and the Arctic (right) sea ice extent in August 2026. Credit: NOAA
Tropical Cyclones
Global tropical cyclone activity was above average in August, producing 19 tropical storms. Of those, five reached hurricane or typhoon intensity, with four attaining major status (Category 3 or higher). Driven by ongoing El Niรฑo conditions, activity varied by basin. The Atlantic was unusually quiet, producing two weak, short-lived tropical storms: Cristobal and Dolly. In contrast, warmer waters across the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean fueled the development of eight named storms across the Eastern North Pacific basin. Of note, Hurricane Lala passed near the Big Island of Hawaii as a Category 1 hurricane. Although Lala remained offshore, it was the first storm in decades to bring hurricane-strength conditions to Hawaiiโs Big Island. Torrential rainfall triggered widespread flooding and mudslides across the region.
The West Pacific basin also had an above-average month with nine storms. Notably, Super Typhoon Dolphin brought heavy rain and strong winds to parts of southern Japan and China. The storm brought historic rainfall to parts of China.
No storms formed in the North Indian Ocean nor in the Southern Hemisphere basins, which is typical during this time of year.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Photo credit: NPS/Kris Toy
From email from Reclamation (Andrew Limbach):
On Monday, September 14th at 8:00 AM (MDT), the UVWUA will begin ramping down tunnel diversions to 675-700 cfs. In coordination with that effort, Crystal releases will decrease to 875-900 cfs from 1240 cfs, and flows through the Black Canyon will be between 200-225 cfs. Tunnel diversions are anticipated to be at 700 cfs through October 31.
The Crystal outlet works typically experiences increased levels of cavitation between 900 and 1200 cfs. Therefore, Crystal releases may need to be adjusted as needed to find an optimal operating zone. Recreators and boaters in the Black Canyon should expect fluctuations of river flows until the final releases and diversions are set. Another notification will be sent out once the releases are finalized.
Green Mountain Reservoir August 17, 2026. Photo credit: Allen Best/Big Pivots
Click the link to read the article on the Big Pivots website (Allen Best):
September 7, 2026
No place in Colorado that I have visited offers such blunt testimony to the warming, drying climate than Green Mountain Reservoir. It also poses a question to those politicians whose answer to non-winters and ever-hotter summers is more dams and reservoirs.
The reservoir between Silverthorne and Kremmling was 14% full during Labor Day weekend, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the operator. Put another way, it was 86% empty.
Thatโs worse even than the roughly 78% empty at Lake Powell, the reservoir located roughly 700 river miles downstream from Green Mountain.
Green Mountain was part of Coloradoโs mission begun in the 19th century to put water to โbeneficial use,โ a central axiom of state water law. Pioneer settlers did an admirable job of this, in the beginning using nothing more than horses, oxen and human labor.
In 1902, the federal government became a partner, creating the Bureau of Reclamation. Over the next roughly 90 years, the federal treasury was visited repeatedly to prevent โwasteโ of any portion of the Colorado River flowing into the Pacific Ocean.
Green Mountain Reservoir, back in the day. Photo credit: Denver Water.
Construction of Green Mountain Dam was part of that work. During the hot, dry 1930s, farmers in the Fort Collins-Longmont-Greeley area wanted to import water from the Colorado River headwaters near Grand Lake. Western Slope irrigators objected. Farms in the Grand Junction area would lose late-season water needed to get their crops and orchards across the finish line.
Green Mountain was the compromise. And it has worked out well. A pool of 66,000 acre-feet of water was reserved for down-stream irrigators in the Grand Junction area. Deliveries in this canal usually continue through October, sometimes later.
This year was different. For the first time in 110-plus years, deliveries ended in late August.
DeBeque Canyon has changed somewhat since this photo of the Roller Dam was taken in 1916. Most notably, now the canyon has an interstate highway. Photo/U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. For a more complete history, see the Palisade Historical Society page.
In April, the Glenwood Springs-based Colorado River Water Conservation District issued a warning. Green Mountain was the lowest it had been since filling during World War II. This jeopardized the late-summer flows to irrigators who took delivery of water from the Government Highline Canal. The canal diverts water from the Colorado River at the Roller Dam, a short distance upstream from Palisade. It then distributes water to farms and orchards for 55 miles, nearly to the Utah border.
Wolford Mountain Reservoir back in the day. An aerial view of Wolford Reservoir, formed by Ritschard Dam.
This year, in a testament to cooperation, the Colorado River District and Colorado Water Conservation Board ponied up more than $1 million to buy use of water. Water was tapped from headwaters reservoirs, most notably Wolford and Williams Fork, near Kremmling, and Ruedi, near Basalt. Others, including Front Range diverters, helped.
Williams Fork Reservoir back in the day. Photo: Brent Gardner-Smith/Aspen Journalism
Irrigators got only 50% of their normal water. In response, many switched crops to varieties of plants that could survive with less water.
Even so, by late August, the water was running out. The Grand Valley Water Users Association, operator of the canal, stopped deliveries on September 3. Maybe monsoon rains will deliver water to resume operations, but thatโs the story for now.
Once again, the idea that we just need to store more is entirely too simplistic. Yes, saving for a rainy day is always good, but this idea that we can build our way to more water defies ample evidence about the warming, drying climate.
We can have droughts, yes. They come and go. But the science clearly shows that these hot, dry years of the 21st century will not be ephemeral. They have been driven by a warming climate caused by accumulating greenhouse gas emissions.
Udall/Overpeck 4-panel Figure Colorado River temperature/precipitation/natural flows with trend. Lake Mead and Lake Powell storage. Updated through Water Year 2025. Note the tiny points on the annual data so that you can flyspeck the individual years. Credit: Brad Udall
In the 20th century, the Colorado River delivered about 15.2 million acre-feet. In this century, the annual flows have declined to 12.2 million acre-feet. Since 2020, average flows have declined even more, to 10 million acre-feet. And this recent span included a very, very big snow year, in 2022-23, a three-wire winter like those of old. But the spring was like those of the 21st century, early and uncommonly warm.
The pitiful storage in Green Mountain, whose shoreline is seen in the above photograph I took on Aug. 17, testifies to this warming, drying climate. So does the canal near Grand Junction where deliveries were cut off last week for the first time in 110 years. And then we have near doubling of 95 degree-plus days in Denver during last 30 years as compared to the three decades before as reported by KUSA.
Might we figure out better infrastructure? Maybe. The idea of storing water underground, as Greeley began doing several years ago, intrigues. It requires more energy but greatly reduces evaporative loss.
The federal government in its documents has excised climate change. So have many politicians in Colorado speaking on the stump, hewing to the recent version of political correctness.
If there are ideas for storing water that donโt assume a return to the climate of the 20th century, Iโm all for hearing them. But to think this is just another drought defies tons of evidence.
An 1866 party of pioneers in Echo Canyon east of the Salt Lake Valley. Photograph from Newsroom of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
by Robert Marcos
The Lifeline of the Wasatch: Pioneer Irrigation in the Great Basin
When the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in July 1847, they encountered a landscape starkly different from the humid climates of Illinois and Missouri. Receiving less than sixteen inches of annual rainfall, the valley was an arid expanse. However, the settlers quickly recognized a crucial geographic asset: theย Wasatch Range. Towering over the eastern edge of the valley, these mountains acted as a massive cold-weather reservoir, capturing vast amounts of winter snowfall. As spring and summer temperatures rose, this snowpack melted, sending high-volume runoff down steep canyons into local mountain streams like City Creek, Red Butte Creek, and the Provo River. To survive, the pioneers had to capture and control this mountain runoff for agriculture, effectively executing the first large-scale Anglo-Saxon irrigation system in modern American history. 1
Gravity-Fed Engineering and Infrastructure
The physical redirection of the water relied entirely on gravity. Because the Wasatch Range drops steeply into the low-lying valley, water flowed downward naturally with substantial force. Within hours of their arrival on July 23, 1847, the pioneers built a rudimentary timber and earthen dam across City Creek. This initial barrier pooled the fast-moving runoff, forcing it into a hand-dug ditch that redirected the water onto five acres of dry land, softening the sun-baked earth enough to allow plowing and the planting of potatoes. As the settlement grew, this experimental ditch expanded into a massive, organized network of canals. Main canals tapped into mountain streams right at the canyon mouths where the water exited the Wasatch Range. Using simple tools like shovels, pickaxes, and ox-drawn scrapers, the pioneers dug primary ditches that followed the natural contours of the valley slope, maintaining a gentle decline. From these primary canals, a lattice of secondary and tertiary ditches branched out directly into individual communities and agricultural fields. Inside the towns, irrigation ditches ran down both sides of the wide streets to provide water for residential gardens and orchards. 2
Communal Management and Legal Evolution
The infrastructure required to channel the Wasatch runoff could not have succeeded through individual effort alone; it demanded centralized planning and communal labor. Under the direction of Brigham Young, the territory departed from traditional American riparian water lawโwhich dictated that water belonged exclusively to whoever owned the riverbanks. Instead, the pioneers established a doctrine of communal ownership where water was treated as a public resource. The construction and maintenance of the canal systems were divided among ecclesiastical units known as “wards”. Local bishops doubled as water masters, organizing community members to dig and clear the ditches. Water distribution was tightly regulated through a system of “turns”. Farmers were assigned a specific day and hour to open their wooden headgates, allowing the mountain runoff to flood their fields. This highly disciplined approach to water management proved incredibly scalable. By 1865, less than two decades after their arrival, the settlers had constructed over 1,000 miles of canals across Utah, transforming an unforgiving environment into a highly productive agricultural oasis. 3
The Radical Cooperative Theology of Mormon Water Sharing
The early Mormon approach to water sharing in the Great Basin was not merely a pragmatic response to a dry climate; it was a direct extension of a radical, communal theology. While standard 19th-century American culture championed rugged individualism and private property rights, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operated under a philosophy of theocratic collectivism. This worldview, deeply rooted in the revelations of founder Joseph Smith and enforced by his successor Brigham Young, reshaped how natural resources were legally, spiritually, and physically distributed. 4
The morning of 9/11 I was working at the computer. My son barged into the computer room and said, “Papa a plane hit the the World Trade Center building!”
I will always remember the people that died that day.
The best coverage of the event turned out to come from the bloggers. The talking heads on TV kept interviewing the same people and showing the same footage over and over. Meanwhile the bloggers reported what was going on from the point of view of those most affected by the losses of loved ones and what they observed on the street.
From my post on the first anniversary of the event:
The events of that day led me into the world of weblogging. I started reading Dave Winer’s Scripting News regularly. At the time he was pointing to people writing about the tragedy, in real time, in their own voices, and I was stunned by the effectiveness and quality of the reporting and opinion being published. Here’s the 9/11/2001… Scripting News. No one got much work done that day. A couple of TV’s were on in the building but people mostly sat around talking, working through the events, getting comfort from human conversation and interaction.
Drought and abnormal dryness continued to expand or intensify this week across parts of the central and south-central United States as flash drought conditions continued from much of Texas northeast to the middle and lower Mississippi River Valley. Warmer-than-normal temperatures, ranging from 10-15 degrees F above normal in much of the central Great Plains, Corn Belt and Missouri, combined with mostly dry weather in these areas to support worsening drought. Largely drier weather also continued this week in New England, in parts of the Michigan Upper Peninsula, along parts of the North Dakota-South Dakota border, in southeast Montana and in southwest Colorado, leading to degradations occurring in parts of these areas. In contrast, heavy rains fell from southeast South Dakota into western Iowa and southern Minnesota, in eastern Wisconsin, in northern North Dakota, in western Oregon and in parts of the northern Rocky Mountains in Montana and Idaho. Scattered heavy rains, locally 2-3 inches or more, also occurred in parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, eastern North Carolina and Florida. Tropical Storm Edouard and its remnants delivered very heavy rain amounts, locally 10-15 inches or more, in a narrow corridor in southeast Texas. Lowell, in the central Pacific Ocean, delivered heavy rain amounts to Niihau, Kauai and Oahu as it passed west of the islands as a hurricane earlier this week, alleviating abnormal dryness in a few areas. Conditions continued to improve in localized areas of Puerto Rico this week after recent heavy rains. While the central United States dealt with an early-autumn heat wave, near- or below-normal temperatures occurred from the Great Basin west to the Pacific Ocean…
Conditions in the High Plains region this week were mixed. Scattered heavy rains fell in northeast and southwest Nebraska, southeast South Dakota, northern North Dakota and far southwest Kansas, leading to localized or widespread improvements in these and neighboring areas. However, temperatures across the region were warmer than normal, leading to abnormally high atmospheric thirst and widespread degrading conditions in parts of the region. Temperatures were mostly 10-15 degrees above normal in Kansas, eastern Nebraska and southeastern South Dakota. Eastern Kansas and southeast Nebraska were particularly hot and dry this week, leading to large expansions of moderate, severe and extreme drought in south-central and southeast Kansas, and the introduction of abnormal dryness in much of northeast Kansas. Unusually wet weather in August kept conditions in southeast Nebraska from drying as much as areas farther south and southeast. Severe and extreme drought also grew in coverage in southeastern North Dakota, where warm and dry weather this week worsened precipitation deficits and soil moisture conditions. Drought conditions improved in southeastern South Dakota, and adjacent far northeast Nebraska, where rain amounts of 2-5 inches fell. Similar amounts of rain fell in parts of northern North Dakota, leading to improvements in soil moisture and streamflow there and improving drought conditions. Heavy rain amounts of 1-3 inches fell in parts of southwest Nebraska and the Nebraska Panhandle, and adjacent northeast Colorado, lessening precipitation deficits and improving drought conditions…
Colorado Drought Monitor one week change map ending September 8, 2026.
Most of California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho were cooler-than-normal this week, with some areas of northern California and southern Oregon finishing the week 10-15 degrees below normal. Eastern portions of New Mexico and Montana, by contrast, were warmer than normal, with temperatures in most areas 5-10 degrees above normal. Widespread moderate to heavy precipitation fell from northern California across portions of Oregon, central and northern Idaho and western and northern Montana. Precipitation amounts in western Montana and northern Idaho ranged from 2 to 6 inches. This led to increased soil moisture and streamflow and lessened short- and long-term precipitation deficits, and the coverage of moderate and severe drought and abnormal dryness lessened in some areas. Precipitation also improved conditions in south-central Oregon, as long-term precipitation deficits lessened in severity. Long-term precipitation deficits grew amid groundwater and soil moisture shortages in south-central Nevada, leading to an increase in severe drought coverage there. In southeast Montana, warm and dry weather led to decreased streamflow and soil moisture in a few areas, leading to localized expansion of severe and extreme drought…
Large parts of the South region continued to quickly dry this week amid mostly above-normal temperatures and dry weather. A few exceptions include southern Louisiana, southeast Texas (where former Tropical Storm Edouard dropped rain amounts that locally exceeded 10 inches), and parts of the western Oklahoma Panhandle, where scattered thunderstorm rains occurred. Isolated one-category improvements occurred in the Oklahoma Panhandle, while one- and two-category improvements occurred in southeast Texas, where precipitation deficits were either reduced or erased entirely, along with improved soil moisture and streamflow. Elsewhere, mostly dry weather and hot temperatures (5-15 degrees above normal) covered a wide area from western and northern Texas through most of Oklahoma, Arkansas, northern Mississippi and Tennessee. Short-term rainfall deficits continued to grow across much of the region, along with dropping soil moisture and streamflow levels, leading to widespread agricultural drought impacts. Large areas of degrading conditions spread from much of Texas into eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, northern Mississippi and portions of Tennessee. The rapidly drying weather in Tennessee came after much wetter recent weather, somewhat lessening the impact of the recent heat and dryness there and in neighboring Kentucky…
Looking Ahead
From the evenings of Wednesday, September 9-Monday, September 14, the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center precipitation forecast is for mostly dry weather in the West, and in the western half of the Great Plains, except for parts of north-central Idaho eastward across Montana into North Dakota, where over 0.75 inches of precipitation are forecast in most areas. Eastern parts of South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma may also receive 0.75 inches or more of rain, with some parts of eastern Kansas and western Missouri forecast to receive 1.5 inches of rain or more. Much of northern Iowa, Minnesota, northwest Wisconsin and the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan are forecast to receive at least 1.5 inches of rain. Rain amounts at or above 0.75 inches are also likely in parts of the Ohio River Valley, southern Mid-Atlantic, southeast Louisiana, and parts of southern Mississippi, Alabama, northern Georgia and the Carolinas. Parts of the Florida Peninsula may receive 1.5-4 inches of rain. Generally drier weather, with local exceptions, is forecast in Texas, the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, northern parts of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and southern New England.
For September 15-19, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center forecast favors above-normal precipitation for much of the contiguous United States, especially in the Four Corners states. Near-normal precipitation is favored near the Gulf Coast and in parts of central and northern California and Nevada and eastern Oregon and Washington. Below-normal precipitation is favored in western parts of Oregon and Washington. Warmer-than-normal temperatures are favored across much of the southern and eastern United States, especially in the Southeast. Cooler-than-normal temperatures are favored in North Dakota, northern South Dakota, northwest Minnesota and most of Montana. Above-normal precipitation and temperatures are both favored in Hawaii. In Alaska, warmer-than-normal temperatures are favored across the state. Above-normal precipitation is favored in most of Alaska, though below-normal precipitation is likelier in southeast Alaska, and near-normal precipitation is favored in the central Aleutian Islands.
US Drought Monitor one week change map ending September 8, 2026.
The U.S. Supreme Courtโs 2023 decision on Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency dramatically weakened protections for millions of acres of the Westโs essential wetlands and streams. Under the ruling, only bodies of water with a โcontinuous surface connectionโ to a โrelatively permanentโ traditional, navigable water body can be legally considered part of the waters of the United States (WOTUS) and therefore covered by the Clean Water Act.
The courtโs definition excludes wetlands with belowground connections to bodies of water as well as those fed by ephemeral or intermittent streams. In effect, an estimated 60% of wetlands have lost federal protection, according to a National Resources Defense Council report. The language in the decision was ambiguous โ exactly how wet a wetland has to be to fall under WOTUS and qualify protections was left up to federal agencies.
Wetlands are critical to both human and ecosystem health as well as for climate change mitigation. But they are also prime targets for dredging, filling and other disruptions because of their proximity to water and rich, fertile soil.
Under President Biden, the EPA broadly interpreted Sackett, focusing on protecting wetlands adjacent to bodies of water, with no explicit threshold for how often they had to be flooded. In March, however, Donald Trumpโs EPA released a memo indicating that it plans to restrict all WOTUS, although itโs not yet clear by how much.
โThe current EPA seems to be using Sackett as a springboard to find any perceived ambiguities and narrow the definition of WOTUS further,โ said Julian Gonzalez, senior legislative counsel at Earthjustice.
โThe current EPA seems to be using Sackett as a springboard to find any perceived ambiguities and narrow the definition of WOTUS further.โ
In the absence of federal regulations, state dredge-and-fill permitting programs can protect wetlands, and California, Oregon and Washington all have broad protections for non-WOTUS wetlands and streams. And since the Sackett decision, Colorado and New Mexico have passed laws restoring clean water protections for waters excluded from WOTUS. โItโs a dereliction of duty on the federal governmentโs part by not appropriately protecting the waters of the U.S. and that leaves it up to the states to fill in those protections,โ said Rachel Conn, deputy director of Amigos Bravos, a New Mexico conservation organization.
The result is a patchwork of laws protecting the nationโs wetlands. But if more Western states were to emulate their neighborsโ efforts and take action, millions of acres of wetlands could be saved, even in the absence of strong federal protections.ย
National Resources Defense Council estimates are based on scenarios in which the federal government adopts two interpretations of Sackett that are supported by industry and some states: one, excluding wetlands adjacent to intermittent or ephemeral streams (bottom of range), and another, excluding wetlands that are not wet or flooded most of the year (top of range). According to legal experts, the EPAโs current guidance suggests that the administration will limit WOTUS significantly, excluding most wetlands. Alaska is excluded from this graph due to lack of data.
Credit: High Country News
Arizona
Wetland oversight is primarily conducted through the Surface Water Protection Program (SWPP), administered by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. House Bill 2691, passed in 2021 before Sackett, established the SWPP, which allows the state to protect some waters not covered under the Clean Water Act.
Wyoming
While Wyoming lacks a permitting program, it does bar the discharge of any pollution or wastes into its waters without a clean water permit. In addition, Wyoming established a Wetland Banking Fund before Sackett to encourage individuals and companies to preserve wetlands. It enables entities to bank wetland credits earned from wetland conservation projects and use them later to offset a developmentโs impacts on wetlands, with the goal of achieving โno net loss of wetland function and value in the state.โ
Colorado
Wetland protections are primarily governed by House Bill 24-1379, a law passed in 2024 that aims to restore Clean Water Act protections to state wetlands that lost them owing to Sackett. It establishes a state permitting program.
New Mexico
The Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act (SB 21), which was signed into law on April 8, gives the state authority to regulate surface waters. It creates a statewide permitting program and addresses polluted groundwater that falls outside federal programs.
Credit: Hannah Agosta/High Country News
How wetlands work
Approximately 40% of species, including half of all federally listed species, rely on wetlands, which act like sponges for excess water, offering billions of gallons of flood protection and storing this water for later use. Their plants, roots and microbes filter pollution from drinking water and also store 20%-30% of the worldโs total soil carbon. But Western states have lost 50% of their wetlands since colonization, and roughly half of the regionโs remaining ones are degraded.
Illustrations by Hannah Agosta/High Country News
SOURCES: From Gold, 2024 in Science/Environmental Defense Fund, National Resources Defense Council, U.S. Fish and Wildlife National Wetlands Inventory, Wetlands International.
Iron Fen. Photo credit from report “A Preliminary Evaluation of Seasonal Water Levels Necessary to Sustain Mount Emmons Fen: Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests,” David J. Cooper, Ph.D, December 2003.
Squinting through my binoculars, I scanned the dense branches of a black spruce, trying my best to catch a glimpse of the thin legs of a small black, white and yellow songbird. I was on the hunt for a yellow-rumped warbler โ a bird affectionately called โbutter-buttโ by bird-watchers after the distinctive buttery yellow patch of feathers above its tail.
Stephanie Szarmach holds a yellow-rumped warbler that was banded as part of a study. Johanna Beam
Once I spotted a flash of red on one of the birdโs legs, I knew that this individual was special โ in fact, it was one that I already knew well. Thatโs because I had placed identifying bands on it the previous year as part of my Ph.D. research, and it was carrying a very important piece of new technology.
I played the high pitched โwarbleโ of its song through a speaker placed below a mist net of fine, nearly invisible mesh. Thinking another male had intruded on his territory, the bird quickly descended. My tactic worked โ he got caught in the net. As I gently removed him, I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw the Tic Tac-size device sitting on his back.
A yellow-rumped warbler wears a multisensor geolocator backpack. Stephanie Szarmach
Over the past year, this warbler carried a multisensor geolocator backpack throughout his migratory journey, recording the long trek from his breeding grounds in Anchorage, Alaska, to a yet unknown winter refuge and back again. Working with my Ph.D. adviser, evolutionary biologist David Toews, I deployed dozens of these cutting-edge tags to illuminate the migratory journeys of these high-latitude breeding warblers at a scale not previously possible for small birds.
Now, after a year of waiting, I finally had the data in hand.
How can scientists track small birds?
Researchers began tracking the movements of migrating birds in the late 1960s using radio telemetry, a technique that requires tagged birds to be physically followed with receiver equipment, sometimes aided by a small aircraft.
Then, as GPS became more widely available in the early 2000s, satellite tags let researchers accurately track birds remotely. However, GPS transmitters are hefty โ even just the battery that powers them is too heavy to be carried by the majority of small migratory songbirds, which often weigh less than a spoonful of sugar.
To address this problem, researchers developed ingenious little light-level geolocators. These miniature tags minimize weight by containing only a tiny battery, clock, computer chip and light sensor. They store data internally rather than transmitting it โ hence my need to recapture tagged birds a year later. Researchers infer a birdโs locations from the timing of sunrise and sunset, which vary predictably across the globe and throughout the year.
Light-level geolocators have openednew windows into themigrations of small birds, but they also have limitations: Their estimated locations can err by hundreds of miles, and this uncertainty becomes impractically high around the equinoxes, when day length is the same worldwide.
Each harness loop of the multisensor geolocator goes around one of the birdโs legs and the tag sits on the birdโs lower back. Stephanie Szarmach
More recently, researchers developed a newer method of geolocation that uses atmospheric pressure to circumvent these limitations. When a bird ascends during a migratory flight, a barometric geolocator records a steep drop in air pressure, capturing the timing of departure and arrival for every stop along a birdโs migration route. In between flights, the pressure the tag records reflects the elevation at the birdโs position.
Knowing the birdโs elevation helps to narrow down possible locations, which researchers can then refine further by comparing the change in pressure over time recorded by the tag to global weather data using the computer program GeoPressureR. The unique pattern of rises and falls in pressure acts as a kind of pressure fingerprint for a specific location. Including light and wind data in the model of the birdโs movements can increase precision even more.
Atmospheric pressure data collected from a multisensor geolocator carried by a yellow-rumped warbler over five days in spring. When the bird is stationary, such as when resting at a stopover site, the measured pressure remains steady. During migratory flights, when the bird ascends into the sky, the pressure drops and fluctuates dramatically. Stephanie Szarmach
New tech answers an old question
We used these new multisensor backpacks to study the migration patterns of myrtle warblers, the northern subspecies of yellow-rumped warbler, which breed across North Americaโs boreal forest. Myrtle warblers in the northeast are known to winter along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, but where northwestern populations migrate has been more of a mystery. In 1899, ornithologist Richard McGregor observed myrtle warblers wintering in coastal California, and hypothesized that these birds might breed in Alaska and British Columbia.
Using these new tags allowed us to test whether warblers breeding in Anchorage, Alaska, actually followed the shortest migration route to winter in California. To our surprise โ and probably to McGregorโs as well, if he were still alive โ we found that all the birds we tracked traveled east across the boreal forest of Canada before shifting south to the Gulf Coast โ certainly not the Pacific Coast route we expected.
All told, this 6,800-mile (10,900-kilometer) round-trip journey was much longer than we anticipated for a species commonly considered a short- or medium-distance migrant.
Researchers tracked the routes six myrtle warblers flew on their fall migration southeast from Anchorage, Alaska. Figure by Stephanie Szarmach. Warbler illustration by Emily Griffith
Why take such a circuitous route?
The long, seemingly suboptimal route taken by our Alaskan myrtle warblers is actually mirrored by some other songbird species tracked from northwestern North America, including blackpoll warblers and Swainsonโsthrushes.
Part of this pattern may relate back to the glaciations that isolated ancient populations of birds millions of years ago. The thinking goes that as these glaciers spread, they squashed the ranges of formerly northern species into the south. Then, as the glaciers slowly receded, the forests gradually reexpanded.
As more land opened up, birds moved farther north and west into that habitat. Each season some birds went a little farther as the forest available in their northern breeding grounds expanded. For migratory species such as myrtle warblers, the farther north and west their breeding range expanded, the longer the migration to their southern wintering ground became.
Scientists think migration routes are genetically encoded. The birdsโ genes may have traced this expansion front, like Hansel and Gretel putting down breadcrumbs as they journeyed deeper and deeper into the forest. Todayโs migration routes still trace that incrementally expanded path, even though the glaciers that shaped the original boundaries are long gone.
Weโre still not sure exactly where the California-wintering myrtle warblers spotted in the 1800s are breeding. We suspect that a small proportion of the Anchorage-breeding birds may migrate to California, but that most of them travel from more distant, unstudied regions of Alaska or Yukon. Future research, potentially tagging myrtle warblers directly on the California wintering grounds, will shed more light on this population and why certain individuals follow a different migration route.
Barometric geolocation provides new data
Today, this new geolocation approach improves scientistsโ ability to study the migrations of small birds and supports more effective conservation actions across the course of the entire year. More precise location estimates help researchers identify key stopover and wintering sites in need of protection and better understand the threats birds face throughout their journeys. These geolocators also reveal the altitude of migratory flights, which is important for understanding the risk of birds colliding with buildings or wind turbines.
Because these new tags capture pressure data for every migratory flight, theyโre especially valuable for studying migration timing. Researchers have combined data from over 50 bird species to understand at what time of day or night different birds migrate. Now, as a postdoctoral researcher at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, I am integrating multisensor geolocator data with satellite imagery to investigate how arrival and departure decisions throughout a birdโs migratory journey relate to seasonal changes in plant growth.
Scientists have now tracked dozens of bird species with multisensor geolocators, and that number increases every year. Each mapped migratory journey improves our understanding of how small birds migrate, what factors shape their movements and how best to protect them.
The Bureau of Reclamation announced an $81 million contract award to Carstensen Contracting, Inc. for the construction of the Block 2-3 pipeline for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project in northwest New Mexico. This award now moves Reclamation one step closer to completing its largest project to deliver clean, reliable water to nearly 250,000 people on the Navajo Nation, proudly fulfilling this historic water rights settlement.
The Bureau of Reclamation is advancing construction of the Block 2-3 Pipeline, a critical component of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. This segment begins at the Frank Chee Willetto Reservoir east of Shiprock and extends south to the San Juan Lateral Water Treatment Plant.
โAwarding this contract is a defining moment for the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project,โ said Reclamationโs Western Colorado Area Office Manager Bart Deming. โWith the Block 2-3 pipeline construction underway, we are taking the final steps toward delivering reliable water to Navajo communities and regional partners. This achievement reflects years of dedication and collaboration and brings us closer to fulfilling our commitment to provide sustainable water for generations to come.โ
The Block 2-3 Pipeline will convey raw water through buried transmission pipelines. After it is treated to drinking water standards, it will be further conveyed along the San Juan Lateral delivering long-term, reliable water supply to Navajo communities and regional partners.
With this award, all major components of the San Juan Lateral are either completed or under construction for future water conveyance along the mainline transmission system. The San Juan Lateral is more than 75% complete with initial water deliveries slated for late 2028 and final project completion by the end of 2029.
Major project work elements include:
Installation of 42-inch and 48-inch buried water transmission pipe, forming the backbone of the Blockย 2-3 conveyance system.
Construction and equipping the pipeline system with regulating tanks, crossings, structural supports, valves, erosion control, and cathodic protection to ensure safe, reliable operation and environmental stability.
Integration of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and fiberโoptic cabling, enabling remote monitoring and automated control of pipeline operations.
This contract, which will be Carstensen Contractingโs first on the project, is funded through the Reclamation Water Settlement Fund authorized in Public Law 111-11.
The Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project is the cornerstone of the Navajo Nation Water Rights Settlement in the San Juan River Basin in New Mexico and was authorized for construction by the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, known as Public Law 111-11. Construction began in 2012, and the completed project will include approximately 300 miles of pipeline, two water treatment plants, 19 pumping plants and multiple water storage tanks. The project helps address the needs of the Navajo Nation, where more than one in three people do not have indoor plumbing and must haul drinking water to their homes.
Communities across the West have been anxiously waiting for a plan to manage the Colorado River. The states that share the river have been unable to reach an agreement over how to manage it, forcing the federal government to move forward without one.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recently published a management framework for the next 10 years.
This is not the long-term agreement many had hoped for, but it does leave room for collaborative solutions.
Communities across the West have been anxiously waiting for a plan to manage their water supply from the Colorado River. They watched as the states that share the river talked in circles behind closed doors. They attended conferences where state negotiators repeated the same tired arguments, did not present together, or were entirely absent.
Outside the conference rooms, conditions on the ground were deteriorating. The Colorado River Basin experienced its warmest winter on record. The meager snowpack in the mountains was sucked into parched soils, rivers dwindled, and the Basinโs two major reservoirs hit record lows.
And the situation continues to worsen.
While negotiators were struggling to find consensus, farmers were fallowing fields, raft guides were staring down an uncertain season, neighbors were reporting each other for overwatering, families were discovering that their favorite fishing spots had closed, and municipalities were on the hunt for alternative water supplies.
Three years ago, the U.S Bureau of Reclamation set out to work with the Basin states, Tribes, and stakeholders on a 20-year management plan for the Colorado River. But the states never reached a long-term agreement, forcing the federal government to move forward without one.
On Aug. 21, Reclamation published a framework for managing the river over the next 10 years. While it is not the long-term agreement many had hoped for, it does leave room for collaborative solutions.
What happens next will shape the river for generations.
What Is the Record of Decision?
A Decision-Making Framework
The record of decision lays out a 10-year framework for managing the river.
Under this framework, the Bureau of Reclamation will issue preliminary guidelines every two years for operating the riverโs reservoirs and distributing shortages. Those guidelines will inform Reclamationโs annual plan for the river, which will be released every summer. Reclamation can adjust that plan each April depending on the winterโs snowpack and current reservoir levels. It is a tedious process, but one that allows the agency to modify operations as river conditions change.
State officials have raised concerns that the two-year framework will result in never-ending negotiations while making it difficult to plan ahead and finance solutions. These are valid concerns, but there is an off-ramp. If the states collaborate, they could replace the framework with a long-term deal that provides more certainty to their constituents and removes the need for prolonged negotiations.
Rafting the Colorado River. Photo credit: Western Resource Advocates
A Plan for Managing Water Shortages
In addition to the record of decision, Reclamation issued operating guidelines for 2027 and 2028. These guidelines outline Lake Powell and Lake Mead operations and include shortages the Lower Basin offered earlier this year. Under the guidelines, the Lower Basin will reduce its use of the Colorado River by 1.25 million acre-feet in both 2027 and 2028. It will also pursue 700,000 acre-feet in additional conservation by 2028.
The record of decision allows Reclamation to impose even deeper cuts on the Lower Basin โ up to 3 million acre-feet per year โ if Lake Mead starts to approach the minimum levels needed to produce hydropower and to avoid hitting deadpool.
Reclamation is not mandating cuts in the Upper Basin because its authority to do so is less clear. But that doesnโt mean conservation isnโt urgently needed in the Upper Basin. In the record of decision, Reclamation includes up to 200,000 acre-feet of voluntary conservation each year collectively by Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
While this conservation is considered voluntary, it is in the Upper Basinโs best interest to be part of the solution. Flows on the Colorado River have declined by over 30% since 2020. The river will continue to be on a knifeโs edge unless everyone contributes.
By saving water now, the Upper Basin can help keep things from getting worse and reduce the need for emergency releases from upstream reservoirs to prop up Lake Powell. This can help rebuild storage and support the outdoor recreation economy in places like Flaming Gorge in Utah and Blue Mesa in Colorado.
Conservation in the Upper Basin can also help avoid expensive and risky legal battles over the river. The 1922 Colorado River Compact says that the Upper Basin will not cause the flow of the river to be depleted below a certain amount over a 10-year period. The Upper Basin argues that this volume is 75 million acre-feet. The Lower Basin says the amount includes water deliveries for Mexico and is set at 82.5 million acre-feet. We could hit the 82.5 trip wire as soon as this fall, potentially triggering litigation from the Lower Basin. Such a dispute would likely cost taxpayers millions of dollars, take years to resolve, and leave the riverโs future in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court. If the Lower Basin prevails, water users in the Upper Basin could see drastic cuts to their supply and little time to implement solutions or secure funding to ease the pain.
The four Upper Basin states are at various stages of developing programs to pay water users to decrease their consumption. WRA is advocating for long-term programs that prioritize projects that keep rivers healthy.
Credit: Western Resource Advocates
Is the Latest Plan Enough?
Reclamationโs models show that the reductions planned for the next two years will just barely allow the Basin to scrape by. In the worst-case scenario, the Basin could drain its accessible water savings in Lake Powell. The only water left would be what flows in the river, and that is nowhere near enough to meet current demands.
Whatโs Next?
Implementing Solutions or Handing the Reins to the Supreme Court
The Basin states have an important decision before them โ implement the new guidelines and work toward a long-term deal or take their chances in court.
Nevada was the first to take the plunge. Three days after Reclamation released the record of decision, Nevada filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Interior and Bureau of Reclamation. The state claims that the plan and the potential cuts to Nevadaโs water supply violate federal law and seeks to halt its implementation.
Nevadaโs lawsuit underscores the need for a deal that all seven states can agree to, rather than a plan imposed by the federal government. There is still an opportunity to reach such an agreement โ the Nevada case does not preclude the seven states from continuing to negotiate or from entering into agreements to stabilize the river.
The states must not let this one case spiral out of control. Litigation between all seven Basin states over the Colorado River Compact would make things much worse.
History shows that multistate water disputes can take at least a decade to be resolved and often have unintended consequences.ย Arizona v. California, a dispute over Colorado River allocations in the Lower Basin, began in 1952 and was not resolved until 1963. The court settled the disagreement over water allocations and ruled that the Secretary of the Interior has broad authority to act as watermaster in the Lower Basin โ giving the federal government greater control over Lower Basin water deliveries.ย Texas v. New Mexico, a dispute over the Rio Grande, went on for 13 years before reaching a resolution last spring. And a dispute between Kansas and Colorado over the Arkansas River was on-again, off-again forย more than a century. The court ruled that Colorado was overusing water and awarded both water and monetary damages to Kansas. And these cases all involved two states โ not seven.
The Colorado River does not have decades. Researchers predict that it will only take one more dry winter to drain the Basinโs accessible water savings.
On top of lost time, state litigation over the 1922 Compact would cost millions of dollars โ money that is better spent implementing conservation programs, restoring watersheds, and increasing water efficiency. And litigation would leave decisions with the Supreme Court, not the communities that depend on the river and know it best.
Nevadaโs lawsuit against the federal government does not change the fact that we have a river to manage. New guidelines are still needed by Oct. 1. The decision-making process must continue and the Basin states must act now to prevent a seven-state legal brawl.
In the coming months WRA will be advocating for:
Protections for the river:ย Protecting river health and our communities are two sides of the same coin. The day-to-day operations of the riverโs reservoirs affect everything from fish habitat to hydropower production to local water supplies and outdoor recreation. Operating guidelines must consider the full range of impacts and incorporate policies that maximize benefits for both our communities and the environment.
Transparent decision making:ย The record of decision includes a plan for issuing new operating guidelines every two years. Those guidelines will affect 35 million people and must not be developed behind closed doors. A clear public process is needed to incorporate input from the Basin states, Tribes, Mexico, water users, communities, scientists, and conservation organizations.
Sustained federal funding:ย Federal funding will be critical to implementing the changes that are needed to secure the Westโs future, including restoring watershed health and incentivizing water use reductions. The river that supplies water to 1 in 10 Americans is worthy of federal investment.
Equitable water access and Tribal inclusion:ย The 30 federally recognized Tribes in the Colorado River Basin have long been excluded from key decisions and denied their fair share of the riverโs water. The new guidelines and programs must uphold Tribal water rights and provide clear pathways for Tribal collaboration.
State collaboration:ย The states have been talking past each other for the last three years and itโs resulted in a federal management plan that few decision makers are happy with, and one state has already filed a lawsuit on. It is time to try a new approach before things get worse. The states must enlist the help of a professional mediator who can facilitate more productive negotiations. And the states must finalize and sign implementation plans โ like the Lower Basinโs proposal to reduce its water use by 1.25 million-acre feet in 2027 and 2028 โ as soon as possible.
Basinwide collaboration:ย Many of the riverโs most successful programs โ including those that restored hundreds of miles of fish habitat and put tens of millions of dollars toward water conservation โ were the result of collaborations between states, federal agencies, Tribal nations, water users, conservation organizations, and others. The challenges the river faces are growing. We must accelerate our efforts, build new partnerships, launch new programs, increase investment, and expand on successful initiatives.
The record of decision has set the stage, now it is time for the riverโs next act.
Map of the Colorado River drainage basin, created using USGS data. By Shannon1 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
Ray Nixon Power Plant. Photo credit: Colorado Springs Utilities
Click the link to read the article on the Big Pivots website (Allen Best):
September 8, 2026
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright was at a coal plant near Colorado Springs last Friday to talk about the virtues of coal. Itโs what keeps the lights on, you know, and itโs not expensive, not like renewables.
To make those claims, as he did in not so many words, he had to stubbornly turn a blind eye to another coal plant not more than 30 miles away. Comanche 3, the stateโs youngest and largest coal plant, went down on Aug. 12, 2025, and hasnโt produced electricity since then.
Wright is the front man for President Donald Trumpโs alliance with fossil fuel companies. It would seem to be a comfortable fit for Wright. Until he joined Trumpโs team, Wright was CEO of Liberty, an oil and gas field services company based in Denver that he founded. While there, Wright consistently argued that while human-caused climate change was real, it was a distant threat. Far more important, he said, was to elevate the worldโs living standard.
After he joined Trumpโs cabinet, Wright went about implementing Trumpโs order that fossil fuel plants should not be retired. First in 2025 was a coal plant in Michigan. On Dec. 30, he issued another order, this one for Craig No. 1. The coal-burning unit began production in 1980 and was scheduled to formally be retired on New Yearโs Eve 2025.
Wrightโs order cited several reasons that added up to an emergency. Collectively they fell under the heading of worries about resource adequacy in the regional grid.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission, the operator and part owner, said it didnโt need the electricity. Ditto for another part owner, Fort Collins-based Platte River Power Authority. The plant has three other part owners, including Xcel Energy.
As for the emergency, how severe was it? Not so much. Sources tell Big Pivots that the plant has been operated about three weeks since January, most of that time during April. That was just after Southwest Power Pool launched its electricity-sharing regional market, the West Balancing Authority Area.
On Aug. 20, the day this photograph was taken (and a particularly hot day it was), only one of the three units at Craig Generating Station appeared to be in use. Photo/Allen Best
Resumed electrical production Craig No. 1 has been in response to SPPโs level 1 resource advisories, which do not suggest imminent threat to reliability.
Since that order from Wright last December, he has reissued the three-month emergency orders twice more, again in late March and late June.
The irony of Wrightโs order for Craig last December was immediately noted by the team of Gov. Jared Polis. The 427-megawatt coal plant ordered to be available for the emergency had broken down about 10 days before.
Of course coal plants keep the lights on! Except when they donโt!
As for Comanche 3, the giant coal plant at Pueblo, it has literally been down for 25% of the time since operations began in July 2010. โIt has been reliably unreliable,โ says Danny Katz, the executive director of the Colorado Public Interest Research Group. CoPIRG and other groups are arguing that Xcel, the company, and not its customers should be saddled with the repair costs of Comanche 3 or the replacement costs for purchasing power. Those costs also included bringing an older coal unit, Comanche 2, out of retirement.
The Nixon plant that Wright toured along with two members of Congress from Colorado has no blatant problems comparable to those of Comanche 3. It was to have been closed in 2029, but Colorado legislators this past session agreed to give Colorado Springs Utilities, the owner, a pass. It is now scheduled to be closed by 2032. That would make it, according to current schedules, the last in Colorado.
So what exactly is the fuss about?
In statements issued after their tour, Wright and the two congressmen he had in tow โ Rep. Jeff Crank and Rep. Gabe Evans โ emphasized the reliability of coal and the cost of renewable energy.
โCoal has powered American prosperity for generations and continues to provide the reliable, around-the-clock electricity our grid needs,โ said Wright in a statement. โThe Trump administration is committed to adding reliable power to the grid, not prematurely shutting down generation that is already keeping the lights on.โ
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, right, and U.S. Rep. Gave Evans answer questions after an event held in Thornton during June. Photo/Allen Best
Evans, a former police officer in Arvada, calls Fort Lupton home. Early in his first term in Congress, he showed up at solar farms to get his photo taken. In at least three appearances with Wright so far this year, it has become evident that Evans has learned to talk the fossil fuels language more purely.
โDenver Democrats spent years attacking reliable coal generation, only to run headfirst into reality: you cannot shut down dependable baseload power without something ready to replace it,โ said Evans in the statement issued after the tour.
โKeeping Ray Nixon online longer will protect grid reliability and save ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars. With electricity demand skyrocketing, Colorado needs more safe, affordable, reliable energy โ not political mandates that take power off the grid and leave families paying the price.โ
As for Crank, he played the party line in the Colorado Springs version. โColoradoโs burdensome energy mandates continue to cost our region, not only with higher utility bills but they also threaten our national security assets,โ he said.
Itโs all political theater, but exactly to what purpose?
The harder question is why Colorado Springs needed to keep Ray Nixon operating longer than planned. And also, whether keeping this coal plant operating is better than building a new gas plant, as Wright told reporters, according to a report in the Colorado Springs Gazette. And a new wild card of the last two years is what exactly data centers will need โ and under what terms.
As for utility costs, they are indeed rising. But why? Thatโs a complicated story. What can be said is that renewable energy comes in cheapest, but transmission is a pickle, and we do have supply chain issues.
What also must be said is that Holy Cross Energy, the Glenwood Springs-based electrical cooperative, has consistently had among the stateโs lowest electrical rates even as it stretches to decarbonize. Through July, it was at 87% renewable energy for the year.
Granted, itโs easier to pivot when youโre a smaller dancer. Holy Cross has 58,000 meters compared to the 264,000 of Colorado Springs Utilities or the 1.6 meters of Xcel Energy in Colorado. And in an ironic footnote, Holy Cross actually has an 8% ownership interest in Comanche 3.
Whether Wrightโs emergency orders for Craig No. 1 were legal are yet to be resolved. Environmental groups and others argue that the orders issued by Wright go beyond what the federal law passed by Congress in 1935 (and amended twice since then) allowed. A federal judge heard the case involving the Michigan plant in May but has not issued a ruling. That ruling, whatever it is, almost certainly will have bearing on the orders for Craig.
To be clear, this pivot from fossil fuels to non-emitting sources of electricity is not an easy one. It might yet get expensive. Also be clear that the story told at the Ray Nixon plant was political theater, nothing more.
Tens of millions of people across the West depend on the Colorado River for drinking water, food, power and their livelihoods. But years of drought, rising temperatures and declining reservoirs have put that lifeline under extraordinary strain. The newly released Record of Decision and federal Operating Guidelines for the river provide a framework for operations, but they cannot resolve the region’s underlying challenges on their own. The work that happens next will determine the future of the river and the communities that rely on it.
2026 marks one of the worst water years on record for the Colorado River Basin and throughout the American West, as river flows dwindle and megafires consume landscape after landscape. Water in Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S., has dropped to its lowest level since it was filled more than 90 years ago. Long-term planning and investment is critical to stabilize the river while protecting communities from increasingly severe fire, floods and drought.
Reclamation announces 2026 operating conditions for Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Hoover Dam. Photo credit: USBR
The release of the guidelines is a milestone, not the finish line. A document canโt ensure safe water supplies or combat the impacts of severe drought and wildfires. Significant federal, state and local funding needs to be directed towards strategies that make the health of rivers, forests and wetlands a priority. Without it, the Basin will remain at risk of chronic shortages, food supply disruption, energy grid vulnerability and rising economic instability that breed disruption and conflict for the entire region.
It is critical that we take this opportunity to invest in work that focuses on ensuring healthy watersheds, sustainable water use and collaboration between Colorado River Basin states and Tribal Nations.
Nature-based solutionsโincluding river and forest management and wetland restorationโare a crucial part of the Basinโs infrastructure. They enable dependable water supplies, reduce threats from wildfires and flooding, sustain fish and wildlife and support local communities and economies. With so much attention focused on water allocations, reservoir levels and operational decisions, the role of these natural systems cannot get lost in the mix.
Fortunately there are projects throughout the Colorado River Basin that offer a blueprint for how to work with the power of nature to create a more sustainable path forward.
Projects designed to better manage forests and restore wetlands can improve water quality and create natural firebreaks. Regenerative agriculture practices like growing crops that use less water, and limiting the disruption of soil, can help create healthier farmland that better absorbs and retains water so farmers can use less. These approaches are an important part of a broader portfolio of tools that help communities conserve water, reduce risk and strengthen watersheds.
As the Colorado River endures one of its worst water years on record, long-term planning and investment is critical to stabilize water supplies while protecting communities from increasingly severe fire, floods and drought. Grand Canyon and Colorado River by Brian Richter
Transparency and collaboration between the federal government, Basin state leaders, Tribal Nations and Mexico is essential. We know that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution and that we will be more effective when we draw on the collective expertise of everyone who relies on the river. Basin states have not yet been able to negotiate a long-term management plan but that cannot stand in the way of continued work to create a more reliable and resilient Colorado River system.
Philanthropy also has a vital role to play in the future of the Colorado River. We are continuing to collaborate with our grantees to advance innovative, nature-based solutions for the region. Philanthropic investment can help test and scale approaches, fill gaps, build partnerships and demonstrate what is possible in complement to the much-needed federal, state, Tribal and local investments. Together we can help make sure the river can continue to provide for the next generation.
The U.S. Forest Service-owned parcel known as Janeway is adjacent to the Crystal River. A potential nature-based aquifer recharge project could reconnect the historic floodplain to the river and retime spring flows as part of a water supply replacement plan. CREDIT: HEATHER SACKETT/ASPEN JOURNALISM
Editorโs note:ย Allie Mazurek, engagement climatologist and researcher at the Colorado Climate Center, wrote this piece following a July 31 symposium in Estes Park convened by the Colorado Climate Center to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Big Thompson Flood. The event brought together experts, including several from CSU, to share flood-related research and practices with water managers, government officials, academics, flood survivors and others. Participants reflected on the progress made since the Big Thompson Flood while emphasizing the work that remains to strengthen preparedness and resilience for future flooding.
Flash floods are one of several extreme weather-related phenomena that Colorado faces. And at the end of July, we reflected on the 50th anniversary of one of the deadliest, most devastating floods in our stateโs history: the Big Thompson Flood of July 31, 1976.
Damage to Highway 34 from the Big Thompson Flood.
July 31, 1976: It was a Saturday, the eve of Coloradoโs 100th anniversary of statehood. Hundreds of people, including many from out of state, were spending the holiday weekend recreating in the Big Thompson Canyon: a winding topographic feature that provides a scenic thoroughfare between Loveland and Estes Park.
The weather was reported to have been partly cloudy that afternoon, but conditions began to shift in the early evening. Around 5:30 p.m. local time, a large group of nearly stationary thunderstorms began forming just east of Estes Park. The storms grew quickly and ultimately produced roughly a foot of rainfall in the span of the next several hours: about five times the amount of precipitation that the area typically receives in an entire July.
Most of the precipitation fell during an even shorter time frame, a little over an hour. That sudden surge of water triggered a fast-moving flash flood along the Big Thompson River and steep adjoining canyon. The river rose upward of 20 feet in some locations and peak flow rate of more than 31,000 cubic feet per second was over four times as fast as the riverโs previous maximum.
The devastation was tremendous: Hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed, sections of Highway 34 were washed away and, tragically, 144 people lost their lives. There has not been a deadlier flash flood in the U.S. since that event, and it remains one of the deadliest weather disasters in Coloradoโs history.
The ingredients
One way that atmospheric scientists examine flash flood potential is using an โingredients-basedโ approach, which involves examining the characteristics of several atmospheric variables. For flash flood-producing rainfall, the key factors we consider are: rain rate, precipitation duration and surface conditions.
The Big Thompson Flood had numerous ingredients come together to support thunderstorms with very heavy rain rates. First, a cold front pushed westward across Coloradoโs eastern plains, which brought moisture-rich air into the Front Range Foothills. The cold front also provided a โcapโ atmosphere: bottling up very unstable air in the atmosphere above.
As the front continued to move west, air was forced upwards as the elevation of the terrain continued to increase. This upward motion helped the atmosphere to destabilize, eroding the cap and unleashing plenty of instability for thunderstorms to grow. This localized lift combined with larger-scale upward motion forced the moist, unstable air to cool and condense into thunderstorms.
The ingredients of the Big Thompson Flood (Courtesy of USGS, adapted from UCAR).
As the ingredients were in place for very high rainfall rates, the atmosphere also had very weak โsteering currents,โ or the layer of winds in the atmosphere that move storm systems. Those weak winds meant that the thunderstorms forming at the mouth of the canyon were nearly stationary, allowing the very high precipitation rates to persist over the same area.
This extreme-rain-producing, slow moving thunderstorm set up near the mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon, a high-risk area for flooding due to its pervasive steep, rocky terrain and susceptibility to rapid runoff. These environmental ingredients coupled with social vulnerability factors all combined to create a disaster that evening.
Damage during the September 2013 flood on U.S. 34 leading up to Estes Park. (Courtesy of the town of Estes Park)
The future
The 2013 Front Range Flood was a reminder that the Big Thompson Canyon continues to be a flash flood-prone area. And throughout Colorado, flash floods have always been and will always be a part of our climate, though climate change could potentially make them worse.
Research suggests that in a future, warmer climate, flash flood-producing rainfall will likely become more extreme. The reason behind this expected trend is that as temperatures warm, water is more eager to exist as vapor rather than liquid โ allowing storms to tap into more moisture. Wildfire burn scars, which enhance flash flood risk by making soils repellent to water and cause debris flows, are expected to have an even more profound effect on flash flooding. Climate change is expected to increase wildfire risk in Colorado, leading to more widespread burn scar areas (and thus greater flash flood potential).
CSU research has helped contribute to the knowledge on the Big Thompson event and continues to advance research on heavy precipitation and flooding. The Colorado Climate Center, located in the Department of Atmospheric Science at CSU, serves as a conduit for conducting and disseminating such research to stakeholders and the public.
Weโre now nearly a couple weeks past the 50th Anniversary of the Big Thompson Flood, one of the deadliest weather-related disasters in our stateโs history. There were several commemorative events on July 31st that stretched from Loveland to Estes Park, including our symposium that we hosted. We heard great feedback from several of the ~100 folks who attended, and we hope to do more public events like these in the future. If you were able to make it, thank you for joining us!
We thought weโd use our blog as a medium to highlight some of the content that was covered during our event. If youโre interested in learning even more, we published an article in CSU Source, summarizing the key atmospheric ingredients that triggered the flood that day. And lastly, weโd like to highlight that the Loveland Museum has an exhibit for the flood that will be showing through the end of November. (Several folks from our team are planning to check it out)!
And while weโre on the subject of flooding, weโll go ahead and remind you that this time of year is peak flash flood season in Colorado. As precipitation looms in the forecast, check the weather before you recreate, never drive through flooded roadways, and have ways to receive flash flood warnings.
The Colorado Climate Centerโs Dr. Russ Schumacher presented first, summarizing the meteorological factors that contributed to the Big Thompson Flood. He also shared his output from a high-resolution model simulation of the event, showing that it successfully captured the extreme rainfall rates but displaced the location of the storm. Credit: Colorado Climate Center
Patricia Rettig, archivist for the CSU Water Resources Archive, transported the audience back to the year 1976. She shared a series of harrowing photos of the aftermath of the Big Thompson Flood, detailing how the flood altered communications and reshaped lives. Photo courtesy of Theresa Barosh.
Mike Nelson, former chief meteorologist at Denver7 News, shared local news clips from the day after the Big Thompson Flood.
Dr. Lori Hodges, Director of the Larimer County Office of Emergency Management, has done extensive research on the Big Thompson Flood. She detailed the complexities of the recovery efforts that took place after the flood and described how communications have improved since. She also engaged with participants on the topic of the lack of cellular service in the canyon, explaining that that infrastructure would need to be put in place by service providers. Photo courtesy of Keil Neff.
The National Weather Service Boulderโs Jennifer Stark and Greg Heavener further detailed how the flash flood-producing storm evolved. They also explained that warning systems and collaboration between meteorologists and emergency responders have improved immensely in the last several decades. Photos courtesy of Ken Langford.
Dr. Robert Jarrett, formerly with the USGS, helped conduct post-flood surveys in the Big Thompson. The goal of these surveys was to determine where the flood waters went and how they reshaped the canyon. He also discussed USGS research on determining flash flood potential in Coloradoโs canyons, including his own work on โpaleoflood hydrologyโโthe assesment of historic environmental flood markers used to inform future flood risk. Photo courtesy of Keil Neff.
Dr. John England, Lead Civil Engineer at the US Army Corps of Engineers Risk Management Center, discussed flash flood research that has been used to inform risks surrounding dam safety, including the Olympus Dam in the Big Thompson.
Dr. Kelly Mahoney (NOAA Physical Sciences Lab) details NOAAโs initiatives to better understand and predict extreme precipitation, including their work on probable maximum precipitationโor determining the maximum amount of precipitation that is possible over a given area. Photo courtesy of Ken Langford.
CSU Department of Atmospheric Science PhD Candidate Lexi Sherman presented some of her dissertation research. Lexiโs work examines how heavy rainfall and flash flooding in Colorado is expected to change in a future warmer climate. Photo courtesy of Keil Neff.
Our final presenter was Dr. Kristen Rasmussen, an Assistant Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. She provided information on ingredients-based flood forecasting, illustrating how that approach can apply to both floods in the US and abroad. Credit: Colorado Climate Center
Drs. John England and Robert Jarrett convene the flood tour at Viestenz-Smith Mountain Park. The field trip covered several topics including paleoflood evidence, differences between the 1976 and 2013 Big Thompson floods, and how peak discharges were determined. Photo courtesy of Keil Neff.
Robert Jarrett stands near the remnants of Lovelandโs former hydroelectric power plant, which was destroyed during the flood. Credit: Colorado Climate Center
Thank you again to all who attended! Credit: Colorado Climate Center
The Trump administration continues its crusade to make Americaโs public lands motorized again. This time itโs the Forest Service launching a revamp of its travel management rule by โsimplifying regulatory requirementsโ to โincrease access, including for motorized vehicles, e-bikes, and other mobility devices.โ The move follows, and is an attempt to implement, President Donald Trumpโs rollback this summer of Nixon-era restrictions on off-highway vehicles on public lands. Comments are being accepted on the proposal until Sept. 23.
This rule would bolster the administrationโs rollback this summer of the 2001 Roadless Rule, which prohibits roadbuilding and commercial timber operations โ with exceptions โ on 45 million acres of National Forest lands.
The current action starts the process of developing an environmental impact statement, which will give more specific details. But the notice of intent gives an overall look at what the administration proposes. Most basically, it aims to open the door for individual forests to relax motorized travel restrictions and open currently closed areas to the vehicles. The โpublic access rule,โ as theyโre calling it, would:
โโฆ establish a presumption that existing roads, trails, airfields, trailheads, and other access routes and points on NFS lands are open to appropriate public use,โ unless the closure is required by law (or other specific reasons). This is a switch from the current โclosed unless designated openโ policy to an โopen unless closedโ framework, with possibly dramatic effects.
โ โฆ establish a requirement to consider new roads, trails, airfields, trailheads, and other access routes and points where appropriate to increase access.โย This appears to be aimed at optimizing, if you will, the Roadless Rule rollback by encouraging new roadbuilding.
โโฆ establish processes and conditions for authorizing limited off-route motor vehicle and other motorized equipment use for, among other things, downed big-game retrieval, firewood collection, dispersed camping, and for designating areas for over-snow and other motorized recreation.โย This oneโs pretty scary, because it would open the door to allowing OHVs or snowmobiles to drive just about anywhere in a forest (except in designated wilderness areas).
You have until Sept. 23 to weigh in on the proposal. To do so electronically (preferred)through the Federal eRulemaking Portal, go toย https://www.regulations.gov, docket number FS-2026-0100, and look for the COMMENT button. Or send snail mail to: Director, Public Benefits, 201 14th Street SW, Public Benefits Office, Washington, DC 20250.
Upper White Canyon and tributaries and Bears Ears in the clouds. Jonathan P. Thompson photo.
Several tribal nations, advocacy groups, and Patagonia have filed lawsuits โ and/or revived dormant ones โ seeking to block President Donald Trumpโs proclamations this summer shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. The legal argument behind the lawsuits is clear and potent: The 1906 Antiquities Act authorizes presidents to establish national monuments, but not to shrink or revoke them. Therefore Trumpโs 2017 and 2026 shrinkages are illegal and should not stand.
History backs the plaintiffs. In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to revoke the Castle Pinckney National Monument, a former military installation in South Carolina. His attorney generalโs analysis, however, determined that the Antiquities Act โdoes not authorize [the President] to abolish [national monuments] after they have been established.โ FDR, respecting the rule of law, let the monument stand. Eventually, Congress, which does have the power to alter national monuments, voted to revoke national monument status for the site.
In 2017, a quartet of legal scholars, including Mark Squillace, of the University of Colorado Law School, published their own analysis in the Virginia Law Review. They, too, found that in 1906 Congress did not delegate to the president the authority to downsize or abolish a national monument or weaken the protections granted by the original national monument proclamation. Furthermore, the Federal Land Policy Management Act of 1976 clarified that only Congress has the power to modify or revoke a national monument.
The cases likely will take years to wend their way through the courts, and may ultimately lead to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the power of the Antiquities Act.
Boaters on the Colorado River a few miles downstream from Glen Canyon Dam. Jonathan P. Thompson photo.
๐จ๏ธ๐ฆฆ๐ฃ๐ฝย Water Watchย ๐
While climate change-exacerbated drought most notably diminishes the amount of water in rivers, it also raises the temperature of streams, which is especially problematic for fish and other aquatic life. The Colorado River downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, which includes the long stretch through the Grand Canyon, is warming up fast.
When the river stalls out and becomes Lake Powell, the reservoirโs surface just sits in the sun and bakes, while the deeper waters remain chilly. Some fish, like non-native smallmouth bass prefer the warm water, and stay near the surface. When the reservoir is full, the depth of the water at the penstock intakes โ where released water exits the dam โ is too cold for the bass, so they arenโt likely to escape the reservoir into the river below. But as the surface level drops, the depth of the water at the penstock intakes on the dam decreases, meaning that the water released through the damโs turbines and into the river below gets increasingly warmer โ and is more likely to include warm-water fish.
Currently, Lake Powellโs surface is a mere 28 feet above the penstock intakes, meaning the released water is warm and includes a lot of bass. This, in turn, warms up the river below, making it more favorable to the invading bass, which prey on and compete with endangered native fish. Meanwhile, the warmer water stresses the trout, potentially harming the recreational fishery between Lees Ferry and the dam.
So in 2024 as it became clear low reservoir levels were chronic, the Bureau of Reclamation began doing โcool-flow mixes.โ When the river water temperature downstream of the dam hit 59.9ยฐ F, dam operators would begin releasing cooler water from the lower river outlet tubes. This dropped the river temperature enough to help downstream fish, and hurt the bass.
This year, however, the feds halted the cool flow mixes to ensure that all releases go through the turbines and generate hydropower. The Grand Canyon Trust built a niftyย online gadgetย that shows the consequences, which arenโt good: The water temperature at the monitor just below Soap Creek Rapid in the Grand Canyon soared above 70ยฐ F during the waning days of August, and has been above the cool-mix threshold for 78 days this year so far. Click on theย interactive graphย to see how water temperatures have changed over the years โ and how well the cool-mix flows worked in 2024 and 2025.
๐ค Data Center Watch ๐พ
The first data center project on public lands has been halted โ for now.
On Tuesday, the Interior Board of Land Appeals granted a stay on the Townsite Solar 2โs planned data center on federal land near Boulder City, Nevada, blocking further development while legal challenges are considered. The order also expedites consideration of the appeals filed by environmental groups and the city.
In 2023, the Bureau of Land Management authorized Townsite Solar 2 to develop a solar-plus-storage installation on public land in southern Nevada. Then, in November 2025, before beginning construction on the solar facility, the firm requested an amendment to its right of way that instead would allow it to develop a hyperscale data center, a 70-megawatt battery energy storage system, a substation, and biodiesel generators on the same site. The BLM approved the amendment without conducting a new environmental review or public scoping after determining that the new project โis substantially the sameโ as the former one.
Both the Biden and Trump II administrations proposed opening national laboratories and other federal properties to data center development. However, this was the first such project to be approved for BLM land.
Boulder City, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Sierra Clubย appealedย the approval and requested the stay, arguing that the agency failed to adequately consider the data centerโs potential impacts. The boardโs ruling notes, โAppellants are likely to prevail on that question because the two projects are not โsubstantially the same.โโ The board also determined the appellants โdemonstrated that permanent and irreparable harm is likely to occur to its membersโ aesthetic and recreational interests in the project site.โ
โ๏ธ Mining Monitor โ๏ธ
Federal regulators on Tuesday approved the Navajo Transitional Energy Companyโs proposed Navajo Mine expansion, authorizing the tribal-owned company to extract some 503 million tons of coal over the next 110 years. Yes, you read that right: The coal industry may be in decline, but these folks just got permitted to keep digging up the dirty fuel for over a century more, despite strong opposition from residents and advocacy groups.
The surface mine sits on the Navajo Nation north of Burnham and about 22 miles southwest of Farmington, New Mexico. It was built in the 1960s to serve the nearby Four Corners Power Plant, and remains the facilityโs sole fuel provider.
NTEC says it needs the expansion to continue serving the plant until its closure; its primary owner, Arizona Public Service, plans to shutter the facility by 2041. After that the firm, which also owns coal mines in the Powder River Basin, would apparently try to peddle Navajo Mine coal elsewhere.
This has set off alarm bells for anyone concerned about the landscapes and air quality of the Four Corners region. Not only would the mine tear apart another 9,000 acres of land, displace residents and dwellings, and destroy dozens of historic cultural properties, but that coal would also be burned somewhere, releasing climate-warming and health-harming pollutants in the process. Also concerning is the prospect that the Four Corners plant, which has sullied the regionโs air for more than 60 years, would continue operating indefinitely.
***
The San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Lower San Pedro Watershed Alliance have filed a lawsuit seeking to stop further exploratory drilling or other development at Faradayโs proposed Copper Creek mining project. The groups accuse the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of failing to consider drillingโs impacts on endangered Mexican spotted owls that are known to inhabit the area.
The mine is proposed for about 78 square kilometers in the Galiuro Mountains east of Mammoth, Arizona, on private, state, and Bureau of Land Management parcels. Last June, the Bureau of Land Management approved Faradayโs plan to construct 67 drill pads, along with associated roads and infrastructure, and the company recently completed the first round of water-intensive drilling.
The complaint also says the BLM failed to consult with the San Carlos Apache Tribe, as required under theย National Historic Preservation Act.
โGame on!โ as a friend texted yesterday afternoon. Credit: John Fleck/InkStain
Click the link to read the article on the InkStain website (John Fleck):
September 2, 2026
At 2 p.m. Monday (Aug 31, 2026) the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, along with the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and Audubon Southwest, began releasing a pulse of water from Abiquiu Reservoir on the Rio Chama in Northern New Mexico as an experiment โ what might a several day pulse of water do to help the aridification-starved riverside forests along New Mexicoโs Middle Rio Grande?
Hereโs Bernalillo County Commissioner Barbara Baca, chair of the ABCWUA board:
As I and others have written previously, weโre seeing extraordinary stress on the riverside trees, the ribbons of green that flank the Rio Grande through New Mexicoโs largest city.
The tradeoffs that we talk about every fall semester in the water resources class I teach, tradeoffs among competing and conflicting values, are becoming real. The motivating question Iโve used in my writing on water since my old newspaper days was to ask, as pointedly as I could, โWhen supplies run sort, who actually doesnโt get water?โ
Two answers have become increasingly obvious in recent years along the Middle Rio Grande. What weโve come to call the โaccordionโ of irrigated agriculture is squeezing, as pastures and fields without the super-senior water rights that apply to some of the irrigated lands of New Mexicoโs Middle Rio Grande (or a supplemental well) go dry.
โThe environmentโ is the other.
The question has never been โWhat do we say we value?โ, but rather โWhat do we value enough to give up water in some other place?โ This is about tradeoffs. More water in one place โ an irrigated field or the river channel itself โ necessarily means less water in some other place. My โwhat do we value enough to give up waterโ formulation shifts this from a question of what we say we value to what we actually value enough to give up water to preserve?
Behind the scenes for the last couple of weeks there has been an extraordinary effort underway to scrounge up some water currently in storage upstream for other purposes, and to rapidly put in place the tools to monitor the results. Nobodyโs quite sure how much water will get how far into the bone dry Albuquerque reach of the river, how far downstream the pulse will make it, what the results might be for the riverside forest.
For my whole professional life, long before I shifted from newspapers to writing books, I had a joke when something remarkable happened: โThatโll be great material for my book!โ This is that.
Sunโs almost up, Iโm off to chase the water.
Rio Grande and Pecos River basins. Map credit: By Kmusser – Own work, Elevation data from SRTM, drainage basin from GTOPO [1], U.S. stream from the National Atlas [2], all other features from Vector Map., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11218868
Below is the Precipitation Accumulation in South Platte graph from the NRCS for September 7, 2026. This morning precipitation, at the SNOTEL stations, is at 76% of the median (up 1% one week), and 72% of the water year median (up 1% one week). There are 23 days left in the water year.
There is a slight chance for thunderstorms today, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday in the central and northern mountains. There is a chance for thunderstorms today then a slight chance for showers and thunderstorms Saturday, and a chance for showers and thunderstorms Sunday, down here about 55 miles from Berthoud Pass, where the Berthoud Pass Ditch brings water to Clear Creek from the Fraser River. From Clear Creek County:
The little stone bridge at the Summit is hard to see, but it is still used both by U.S. Highway 40 and the Berthoud Pass Ditch. When viewed from the north side of the road, and behind the new wetland constructed as part of the U. S. Highway 40 widening project, the bridge can be seen and is the same design as three others on the Grand County side of the Pass. A culvert funnels the water from the Ditch under this bridge and across U.S. Highway 40. The Berthoud Pass Ditch is now owned by the City of Northglenn. The ditch has long been a part of the history of Grand County and Berthoud Pass.
The Berthoud Pass Ditch is now owned by the City of Northglenn. Photo credit: Clear Creek County
Culvert under US-40 that funnels water in the Berthoud Pass Ditch from the Fraser River watershed to Clear Creek. Credit: Clear Creek County
Hereโs a look at the 7-Day Colorado precipitation map through September 5, 2026 from the High Plains Regional Climate Center. Precipitation in the South Platte Basin along the Continental Divide of the Americas ranged from 0.10โ to 1.20โ.
Hereโs the 7-Day percent of normal precipitation map through September 6, 2026 from the High Plains Regional Climate Center. Precipitation in the South Platte River Basin along the Continental Divide of the Americas was 25% to 125% of normal.
Below is the 7-day Quantitative Precipitation Forecast for the week of September 7, 2026. Precipitation is anticipated for the mountains of the South Platte River Basin and may total up to 0.50″.
Below are the 8-14 day outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center, issued September 6, 2026, for temperature and precipitation, for the week starting September 14, 2026. The CPC expects above normal temperatures and above normal precipitation for the mountains of the South Platte River Basin.
Below is the Colorado Drought Monitor map from September 1, 2026. There were one class improvements in Douglas, Arapahoe, Adams, Morgan, Weld, and Logan counties. Drought and abnormal dryness covers 93.81% of Colorado. The South Platte Basin is experiencing Abnormally Dry, Moderate, Severe, Extreme, and Exceptional drought conditions.
Below is the Colorado Drought Monitor one week change map ending September 1, 2026.
Hereโs the US Drought Monitor Map from last week along with the one week U.S. change map.
Historicalย correlationย analysis shows El Niรฑo is also linked to changes in Colorado weather, where conditions are generally wetter during El Niรฑo years (image 5). This is especially true in fall and spring, when much of the state averages higher precipitation. Furthermore, the Front Range and Eastern Plains are more prone to large spring snowstorms and experience fewer dry and windy spring days (though such days remain frequent regardless). Unfortunately, the link between the El NiรฑoโSouthern Oscillation (ENSO) and peak seasonal snowpack levels in Colorado is weak. Southern river basins, such as the San Juan and Rio Grande, show a loose positive correlation between El Niรฑo and snowpack.
Image 5: Statistical relationship between El Niรฑo Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and precipitation in Colorado. Green areas tend to be wetter during El Niรฑo and blue areas tend to be wetter during La Niรฑa.
Click the link to read the article on the Big Pivots website (Allen Best):
September 4, 2026
The integration of batteries into Coloradoโs energy picture continues, this time in Pueblo. There, Black Hills Energy has announced plans to add 50 megawatts of storage that will enable it to capture excess renewable energy when it is available.
The four-hour Tesla Megapack batteries (pictured above) will be located next to the companyโs 420-megawatt natural gas plant near the Pueblo Airport. However, the intent is to use the batteries to store excess electricity generated by the companyโs three wind installations in southern Colorado. They have a combined capacity of 149 megawatts.
โWeโre very proud that our companyโs first large-scale battery storage project will be built right here in Pueblo,โ said Campbell Hawkins, vice president of Colorado Utilities at Black Hills Energy.
Black Hills expects to have the battery storage in place by late 2027. The company explains that batteries will enable it to better meet peak demands, such as on hot summer evenings, with renewable energy.
This is part of the companyโs work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2030 as compared to 2005, as required by Colorado law.
The batteries in Pueblo can best be understood as part of a near explosion in energy storage in Colorado during the last two to three years. The amount of storage now on line is remarkable given that the very first _ and very small โ set of batteries were put into place in 2018 at the United Power headquarters along I-25. And that 4 megawatt-hour of battery storage remained the largest in Colorado until 2022.
American Clean Power will host its Recharge conference in Colorado on Sept. 22-24. The opening session will include a very strong Colorado component on its opening day with both Eric Blank, chair of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, and Chris Hansen, CEO of La Plata Electric, having half-hour time slots. See more here.
At Pueblo, project partners are Linxon, a global engineering, procurement and construction company, and Cloudbreak Energy, a national developer and independent power producer of distributed resources and utility-scale solar and storage projects.
The Crossing Trails Wind Farm between Kit Carson and Seibert, about 150 miles east of Denver, has an installed capacity of 104 megawatts, which goes to Tri-State Generation and Transmission. Photo/Allen Best
Map showing where the January-August 2026 temperature ranks when compared to all January-August periods since 1895. It's as if something has changed. ๐ค
Circle of Blue and True Elements Launch Situation: Colorado River from Stockholm World Water Week
Colorado River faces a โcollective nightmare.โ
New platform delivers a shared view to help inform decisions and collaboration.
Situation: Colorado Riverย is part of Designing Waterโs Future, the initiative to create โa new operating system for the worldโs fresh waterโ โ aligning across finance, policy, media, and innovation.
STOCKHOLM (August 27, 2026) โ As some 2,000 experts gather for World Water Week to address global water challenges and solutions, Circle of Blue and True Elements today launch a new, live data, information and context platform for the Colorado River basin, which faces unprecedented stress as the river and its reservoirs set record lows that are forcing a dramatic reset of water use across the American West. The river supports approximately $1.4 trillion in annual economic activity and 16 million jobs across seven basin states, 30 Tribal Nations, and northwestern Mexico.
Situation: Colorado River begins with real-time and historical data collected into a strategic, user-friendly dashboard. In the face of increasing stress on the basin, the team, which includes reporters from Circle of Blue, will add on-the-ground context to deliver critical insights for policymakers, negotiators, journalists, businesses, and the public.
The core data is assembled from True Elementsโ TrueQi system โ an advanced and comprehensive resources platform that includes satellite observations and river gauges as well as drought indicators, wildfire detections, and reservoir measurements.
The platform arrives at an inflection point for the American West as Lake Mead and Lake Powell reach record low levels amid a warming climate. The combined storage of the two reservoirs is now lower than at any point since 1957 โ before Glen Canyon Dam existed. Ninety-five percent of the basin remains in drought.
โThe basinโs assumptions are being reset in real time, and everyone โ federal, state, Tribal, corporate, business, communities โ needs a trusted, shared view of what is actually happening,โ said J. Carl Ganter, co-founder and managing director of Circle of Blue, the international nonprofit reporting on fresh water and its โnexusโ intersections with food, energy, infrastructure, and health.
The TrueQi platform from True Elements collects real-time and historical federal, state, satellite, and sensor data across the Colorado River basin, the broader American West and globally. As it expands, Situation: Colorado River layers Circle of Blueโs journalism, along with reporting from network partners, on top of key data points, with additional context from academic and research collaborators.
โReal-time and cross-sector data is the foundation while the context makes it real and relevant,โ said Kim Kobza, CEO of True Elements. โTrueQi already delivers the most granular water intelligence in the field. Pairing it with Circle of Blueโs award-winning reporting turns raw numbers into shared guidance.โ
โSituation: Colorado River pulls the data together and makes it accessible to everyone making decisions under the pressure of declining water supplies. We do this with a sense of urgency, humility and collaboration in the face of increasing water crises globally,โ Ganter said. It is part of Designing Waterโs Future, Circle of Blueโs international initiative to better inform and align action across finance, policy, media, innovation, and the public.
The situation is forcing a reckoning for farmers, developers, cities, and industries, including silicon chip manufacturers and data centers. โWe have a colossal failure to act in the face of an inevitable collective nightmare โ and all the predictions are coming true faster than we thought,โ Felicia Marcus, past chair of the California State Water Resources Control Board, told Circle of Blue.
As the basinโs operating assumptions are tested, Situation: Colorado River asks a core question:
What data points and contexts are necessary to inform the most important decisions across the Colorado River basin, and how can new data and intelligence approaches be applied across the U.S. and globally?
The initiative launches with a call for public and expert input at an historic moment. Submit thoughts, questions, suggestions and corrections to coloradoriver@circleofblue.org. This will shape the initiativeโs next iterations of data selection and analysis, editorial focus and priority coverage.
Also available now is Water Savvy 3.0, a free mobile app from True Elements available on the Apple App Store that puts real-time water quality data, alerts and reporting into the hands of the public and students.
The platform is live online today from Stockholm. It is free and designed to be a trusted source for newsrooms, businesses, policymakers, academic researchers, students and the public. A more comprehensive enterprise insights system is available to businesses, agencies, and governments. Circle of Blue original content publishes under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
Durango experienced a drier-than-normal August…The month of August accumulated 0.28 inches of precipitation, 0.12 inches of which occurred Monday. Monday was the highest precipitation day of August, Gillian Felton, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the Grand Junction office, said. August traditionally averages closer to 1.3 inches of rain, according to the weather service, and precipitation this August was down about an inch comparatively. A plethora of reasons contributed to the dry spell, said Brooke Scholtens, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Grand Junction.
โFor the earlier parts of the summer, we were experiencing those drought-like conditions,โ she said. โSo that makes things incredibly difficult, especially since the pushes that we did see of the monsoon, most of the time, we had dry air in the way that was kind of preventing moisture from entering the region.โ
This monsoon has been drier than traditional years, Scholtens said. She added that the weather service measures moisture at Durango-La Plata County Airport, so some areas around Durango may have differing precipitation levels…Monsoons donโt have a specific end date, but it usually wraps up mid- to late-September, Scholtens said…According to theย National Integrated Drought Information System, 91.6% of La Plata County is in a severe drought and 8.4% of the county is in an extreme drought. Durango has been in Stage One water restrictions since early April as part of the city of Durangoโs Drought Management Plan.
A windrower cuts alfalfa for drying prior to baling in the Imperial Valley of California in June 2007. Photo by Timothy Hearsum/AgStock
Click the link to read the article on the Big Pivots website (Daniel M. Frey):
August 30, 2026
Forty million people depend on the Colorado River. Some of its largest cities are facing real shortages. Yet nearly half of the water put to human use in the basin goes to growing feed crops such as alfalfa, hay and silage for cattle, with a meaningful share exported overseas.
This is not a hydrology problem. It is a political one.
The misuse of water
Growing alfalfa and hay to feed livestock consumes roughly 46% of all the water put to human use in the basinโmore than every city and industry combined, and more than any other single use of the river. In the Imperial Valley, a material portion of alfalfa is exported. Foreign agribusinesses, including Saudi Arabiaโs Fondomonte and the UAEโs Al Dahra, have leased Southwestern land to grow water-intensive feed and ship it home to countries that have banned the same crop domestically to protect their own water. Arizonaโs governor already canceled state land leases with one of these companies over exactly this issue. We are draining a river that 40 million Americans depend on to grow low-value cattle feed.
This is not even a true market outcome. Between 2017 and 2023, the federal Crop Insurance Program paid $5.6 billion to farmers in the seven Colorado River states for drought-related losses, including more than $2 billion to alfalfa and hay growers alone. Separately, the federal government has committed $1.2 billion over three years under the 2023 Lower Basin conservation agreement to pay some of those same farmers to leave water in the river instead โ and under โuse it or lose itโ water law, that money does not necessarily translate into lasting reduced consumption once the payments end. We are subsidizing the least essential, most water-intensive use of the river while barely funding a lasting transition away from it. These policies ignore urgent human needs and support the continued subsidized irrigation of low-value crops.
Because so much of this crop is exported, converting these acres would not meaningfully affect the U.S. or global food supply. Foreign and domestic buyers would simply source feed from places where water is not scarce. What we would lose is a low-value export that is consuming precious water.
Nobody needs Southwestern agriculture to disappear. Israel farms one of the driest landscapes on Earth and still exports produce because it rebuilt its water use around efficiency instead of volume.
Drip irrigation, which Israel pioneered in the 1960s, delivers water at 70% to 90% efficiency, compared with roughly 40% to 60% for the flood irrigation still common in the Colorado River Basin.
Israel recycles 85% to 90% of its municipal wastewater, supplying more than half its total agricultural demand. Israeli farming also shifted deliberately from low-value, high-water fodder crops to higher-value, lower-water produce such as tomatoes, peppers, dates and avocados. None of this is exotic or new.
Why the status quo persists
So why has nothing changed here? Under prior appropriation law, the oldest agricultural water rights, some dating to the 1800s, are legally senior to every city built afterward, including Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. That seniority is the leverage in every negotiation.
The Imperial Irrigation District alone holds senior rights to roughly 3.1 million acre-feet a year โ nearly a fifth of the riverโs average flow, and on its own equal to Arizonaโs and Nevadaโs entire combined state allocations. That gives a handful of districts a permanent seat at every basin-wide deal because the law guarantees it. When $4 billion in federal conservation funding was distributed through the Inflation Reduction Act, much of it paid agricultural districts to conserve water they were under no legal obligation to relinquish, thanks to their senior water rights.
This is organized and specific, not a vague farm lobby. The Family Farm Alliance, representing irrigated agriculture across 16 Western states, has testified before Congress repeatedly over the past two decades and led a 2025 push for at least $2 billion in near-term drought funding to sustain current agricultural use, not reduce it.
What should change
None of this is an argument against private property or against farmers and ranchers as people. Water rights in the West are real property, built into land value, farm equity and family inheritance. Any transition worth pursuing must compensate people fairly for what the law actually gave them. Conservation is not agricultureโs job alone. Cities owe real cuts too, through tiered pricing, continued investment in water reuse, limits on ornamental turf and honest accounting of growth in already stressed areas.
But fairness among water users does not mean treating every use as equally necessary. Water for peopleโfor drinking, sanitation and foodโcomes before subsidized hay exports. That ranking is not radical. It is what โbeneficial useโ was always supposed to mean before the term became a shield for the status quo.
The technical plan is not the missing piece; versions of it have circulated for years. What is missing is the political will to say, plainly and before the next crisis, that human need outranks irrigated hay, even when the institutions built to avoid that choice are loud, organized and well funded. The reservoirs will not wait for a more comfortable moment. Neither should we.
The 40 million people who depend on the Colorado River should demand that political and business leaders protect their most precious, life-sustaining resource.
Daniel Frey is a Boulder resident, non-practicing CPA and Certified Energy Manager (CEM). He researches and writes on energy and sustainability issues.
Top ten Western counties for acreage planted in alfalfa. Data Source: USDA NASS.
The proposed deal, which a government spokesperson said has not been finalized, would involve a land swap: The government would give the developer a small area of the parkโs land on which to build a private access road between a proposed resort and the park itself. In exchange, the developer would buy land of similar value near the park, or elsewhere in California, and transfer that land to federal ownership.
Environmental advocates and park staff have worried for more than a year that the administrationโs cuts to the National Park Serviceโs budget and staffing would lead to further privatization of the national parksโ land and business operations.
The nation has a long history of similar efforts, including a wildly unpopular 1980 attempt by Reagan administration Interior Secretary James Watt to promote development and expand private concessions in the parks. But debate over using public national park land for private profit dates back more than a century before that.
In early 1864, Central American Steamship Transit Company representative Israel Ward Raymond wrote a letter to John Conness, a U.S. senator from California, urging the government to move swiftly to preserve the Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia trees to prevent them from falling into private hands. Five months later, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Grant Act, ceding the valley and the grove to the state of California, โupon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation.โ This was years before Yellowstone became the first federal land designated a national park in 1872.
California said their businesses threatened the stateโs ability to develop roads and trails in Yosemite by competing for tourist dollars. A legal battle ensued and was not resolved until an 1872 U.S. Supreme Court ruling found that the menโs land claims had not been fully validated according to the procedures of the time. The California legislature paid both men compensation for their land, and both left the park.
Yet, as my research has found, the role of private interests in the park remained unsolved. Private companies under contract to the National Park Service have long provided needed amenities such as lodging and food within the national parks. But questions over what is acceptable in national parks in the pursuit of profit have shaped Yosemiteโs history for generations.
In 1925, I found, the question centered on the right to build the first gas station inside the park, in Yosemite Valley. Two private businesses, the Curry Camping Company and the Yosemite National Park Company, had long competed for tourist dollars within the park. Each wanted to build a gas station to boost profits.
Frustrated over the need to decide, National Park Service Director Horace Albright ordered the rival firms to simplify management of the parkโs concessions. The companies merged, and the newly formed Yosemite Park and Curry Company was granted the exclusive rights to run lodges, restaurants and other facilities within the park, including the new gas station.
But as I found in my research, the park service and the concessions company did not always see eye to eye on the purpose of the park. The conflict between profit and preservation is perhaps most clearly illustrated by the construction of a ski area within the park in the early 1930s. The park service initially opposed the development of Badger Pass Ski Area as not conducive to the national park ideal, but the Yosemite Park and Curry Company insisted it was key to boosting winter use of the park.
In 1973, the Music Corporation of America, an entertainment conglomerate, bought the Yosemite Park and Curry Company. The company already had a tourist attraction operating near Hollywood, where visitors could pay to tour movie sets, but had not yet changed its name to Universal Studios or launched major theme parks in Florida and California. Its purchase of the parkโs concessions set off a firestorm of controversy over fears of turning Yosemite into a theme park.
That didnโt happen, but annual park visitor numbers climbed from 2.5 million to 3.8 million over the 20 years MCA ran the concessions, which sparked concerns about development and overcrowding in the park. Conservationists argued the park service had allowed the corporate giant to promote and develop the park in ways that threatened the very aspects of the park most people came to enjoy.
With three restaurants, two service stations with a total of 15 gas pumps, two cafeterias, two grocery stores, seven souvenir shops, a delicatessen, a bank, a skating rink, three swimming pools, a golf course, two tennis courts, kennels, a barbershop, a beauty shop, Badger Pass Ski Area and three lodges, the Yosemite Valley was a busy commercial district. Critics argued that such development contradicted the park serviceโs mandate to leave national parks unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations.
Falling profits and consolidation within the music industry led MCA to sell its concessions rights in Yosemite in 1993. The Delaware North Companies, a global hospitality corporation, took over and ran the parkโs concessions until 2016, when it sold the rights to Aramark.
But in that sale, the question of public resources and private profits arose again. Delaware North demanded $51 million in compensation for Aramark continuing to use the names of several historic properties within the park, such as the Ahwahnee, a hotel, and Curry Village, another group of visitor accommodations. The company claimed those names were a part of its assets under its contract with the park service.
The park service rejected the claim, saying the names, which dated back more than a century, belonged to the American people. But to avoid legal problems during the transition, the agency temporarily renamed several sites, including calling the Ahwahnee the Majestic Yosemite Hotel and changing Curry Village to Half Dome Village. Public outrage erupted, denouncing the claim by Delaware North as commercial overreach that threatened to distort Yosemiteโs heritage. In 2019, the park service and Aramark agreed to pay Delaware North a total of $12 million to settle the dispute, and the original names were restored. https://www.youtube.com/embed/LXfnTKLw8Qg?wmode=transparent&start=0 Protesters unfurl an upside-down U.S. flag from the top of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in February 2025, protesting Trump administration changes to the National Park Service.
Renewed interest in commercial efforts
In June 2025, Yosemite again took center stage in the dispute over the role of federal funding versus private interests at the start of the second Trump administration when a group of climbers unfurled an American flag upside down off El Capitan in protest of the administrationโs cuts in personnel and slashing of the park serviceโs budget.
Members of Congress and former park service officials say the reported effort in 2026 to turn over park land to a private owner would be a major blow to federal efforts to protect parks and conserve land.
Whichever side prevails in the short term, the debate over the role of private interests within national parks like Yosemite will undoubtedly continue.
Map of the San Juan River, a tributary of the Colorado River, in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, USA. Made using USGS National Map data. By Shannon1 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47456307
At recent meetings, the San Juan Water Conservancy District (SJWCD) and the Pagosa Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) boards of directors approved applications for findings of reasonable diligence for several water rights held by the districts…At an Aug. 13 meeting, the PAWSD Board of Directors unanimously approved applications for findings of reasonable diligence for three sets of water rights, including rights for the San Juan River intake, a group of rights associated with the Dry Gulch Reservoir project that the SJWCD leads development on, and a second enlargement on a water right in Dutton Ditch. The Dry Gulch and Dutton Ditch water rights are held by both PAWSD and the SJWCD, while the San Juan right is exclusive to PAWSD. PAWSD board member Bill Hudson pointed out that these water rights are not rights PAWSD is currently using, but are rights that could be developed in the future if the district needs them…At an Aug. 17 meeting, the SJWCD Board of Directors also unanimously approved diligence filings for the Dry Gulch and Dutton Ditch water rights. SJWCD legal counsel Jeffrey Kane explained to the board that he would file the joint application for the Dry Gulch water rights, while PAWSDโs legal counsel would file the application for the Dutton Ditch water rights.
Reductions in Lower Basin water use during the last four years, including forecast use in 2026, are similar to the initial targets for Lower Basin shortages described in the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Post-2026 Operational Guidelines and Strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead (FEIS) and the accompanying Record of Decision (ROD). 6ย Lower Basin consumptive use in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and forecast for 2026 has been the smallest for the entire 2010-2026 period. These four years of smallest use are between 1.4 and 1.7 million acre feet/year (maf/yr) less than the 7.50 maf/yr amount generally recognized as the Lower Basinโs mainstem allocation.
Reductions in Lower Basin use have been achieved by large reductions implemented by Central Arizona Project (CAP) contractors and subcontractors, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID), and non-CAP water users in Arizona. The reductions in use in the IID have been in summer water use and have not a๏ฌected consumptive use in winter when garden crops, such ass lettuce, onions, carrots, and broccoli, are grown.
There is no historical analogy for implementing Lower Basin shortages of 3 maf/yr that would reduce annual consumptive water use to 4.5 maf/yr. We identified the lowest use in each month between 2010 and 2026 in each Lower Basin state and summed those monthly values, even when those months did not occur in the same year. The annual total of the summed lowest monthly uses yielded a minimum total Lower Basin use of 5.03 maf/yr. Thus, implementation of 3 maf/yr shortages would require reductions in monthly use greater than the sum of the smallest monthly uses during the past 17 years.
INTRODUCTION
This paper is part of a series, The Colorado River Water Supply Crisis in a Few Graphs, whose goal is to provide readers with summary information about the natural water supply, reservoir storage, and consumptive uses and losses in the Basin so that readers can better understand and consider the current water crisis. The long-term fate of the water supply provided by the Colorado River depends on many complex and interconnected factors: the natural flow of the river, the amount of water stored in the Basinโs reservoirs, the consumptive uses of that water, the losses caused by reservoir evaporation, and the losses associated with water flowing through natural channels (i.e., transmission losses).
In 2024, approximately 60% of all uses and losses of Colorado River water in the United States occurred in the Lower Basin (Table 1).โท In this paper, we summarize water use in the Lower Basin since 2010, primarily focusing on consumption by the Imperial Irrigation District (IID), the largest user in the entire Colorado River Basin, and on the aggregate consumption by Arizona users not served by the Central Arizona Project (CAP). We focus on these agricultural users, because agriculture makes up approximately 60% of consumptive uses in the Lower Basin,โธ and the agricultural sector will play a significant role in future reductions in water use in the Lower Basin.
Table 1. Consumptive uses and losses in the United States part of the Colorado River Basin in 2024.9
This paper provides historical context in which to consider the magnitude of recent reductions in Lower Basin water use by comparing current water use with typical rates of use since 2010. We also provide historical context for the shortage goals described in the recently released ROD and Operating Guidelines for 2027 and 2028. 10 The ROD lists a potential maximum Lower Basin reduction of 3.0 maf/yr but also includes language that seems to allow for even greater reductions, after consultation, in extraordinary circumstances.
We analyze the Lower Basin water use data summarized by the Bureau of Reclamation in annual decree accounting reports formally titled Colorado River Accounting and Water Use Report: Arizona, California, and Nevada.ยนยน These reports are issued each May and summarize monthly water use by every Lower Basin user. Reclamation also provides monthly provisional data on the current yearโs water use, and the agency provides forecasts of annual use for the current year.ยนยฒ Similarly extensive and precise data describing Upper Basin use are not readily available.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell are the largest reservoirs in the United States and essentially are one gigantic reservoir separated into two parts by the Grand Canyon.ยนยณ Inflow to this gigantic reservoir primarily is snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains, and a significant amount of that runoff is put to beneficial use by Upper Basin users before it reaches Lake Powell. A small amount of additional inflow occurs within the Grand Canyon, and there are occasional inflows to Lake Mead from the Virgin River. Southern Nevada Water Authority directly withdraws water from Lake Mead, and other Lower Basin users divert stream flow after it is released from Lake Mead.
RECENT LOWER BASIN WATER USE
In 2025, total consumptive use in the three Lower Basin states was 5.755 maf, the smallest annual total use since at least 2010 (Fig. 1) and 17% less than the average for 2010-2025.14 This small amount resulted from the lowest annual use in California (3.647 maf) since at least 2010 and the second lowest annual use since 2010 in Arizona (1.911 maf). Lower Basin use in 2026, 5.961 maf, is forecast to be slightly more than in 2025.15
Figure 1. Consumptive use in the Lower Basin since 2010. Estimated use in 2026 based on forecast of September 1, 2026.
Water use in California since 2023, including forecast use in 2026, has been 13% less than between 2010 and 2022.16 Decreased use in California in those years has been primarily due to reductions in use by IID (Fig. 2). IIDโs consumptive use of 2.187 maf in 2025 was the lowest since 2010 and forecast use in 2026 of 2.242 maf is also very low. Average use by IID between 2023 and 2026 will be 12% less than average use between 2010 and 2022.17 Annual consumptive use by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) between 2023 and 2026 will be 13% less than between 2010 and 2022, although the savings are not as great because MWD uses less water than does IID.18
Figure 2. Consumptive use in California since 2010. Estimated use in 2026 based on forecast of September 1, 2026.
The proportionate reductions in water use in Arizona have been much larger than in California. Average statewide water use between 2023 and 2026 will be 25% less than between 2010 and 2022.19 CAP has reduced its uses by 40% between those two time periods, while non-CAP users have reduced consumption by 6%. The smallest use by Arizona was 1.890 maf in 2023 (Fig. 3). Use in 2025 by non-CAP customers, 1.004 maf, was the lowest since at least 2010. Non-CAP use has exceeded CAP use since 2022.
Figure 3. Consumptive use in Arizona since 2010. Estimated use in 2026 based on forecast of September 1, 2026.
LOWER BASIN AGRICULTURAL WATER USE
Imperial Irrigation District
IID is the largest individual user of mainstem Colorado River water in the Colorado River Basin, exceeding use by any state in the Basin except California itself. Much of Californiaโs ongoing reductions in use are due to decreased use by IID resulting from various compensated agreements. Future reductions by IID have the potential to significantly affect the Basinโs effort to balance consumptive use with declining supply.
In comparison to typical annual use since 2010, IIDโs use in 2024 and 2025, as well as forecast use in 2026, has been notably reduced, as represented in a box-and-whisker plot (Fig. 4).20 The box in Figure 4 encloses 50% of the years since 2010, and the length of this box is called the Inter Quartile Range (IQR), bounded by the 25th and 75th percentile of the 17 years of data, including forecast use in 2026. The line through the middle of the box is the median value for this period. Lines extending up and down from the box (i.e., whiskers) extend from the box to values within an acceptable range. Values that are greater than 1.5 times the IQR above the 75th percentile or below the 25th percentile are beyond the acceptable range and are outliers and individually plotted. Thus, 2024, 2025, and forecast use in 2026 are outliers, indicating that use in those years has been significantly less that typical use during the entire period since 2010.
Figure 4. Box-and-whisker plot showing distribution of annual use by IID since 2010. The box is the Inter Quartile Range, defined by the 25th and 75th percentile of the years of annual use data. The line inside the box is the median. Whiskers extend from the box to an acceptable range, and outliers are circles that are labeled. The three most recent years are outliers of low water use. Estimated use in 2026 based on forecast of September 1, 2026. See text for explanation of a box-and-whisker plot.
The largest proportion of irrigated land in IID is devoted to field crop production, the largest proportion of which is devoted to alfalfa (Fig. 5).ยฒยน The area devoted to alfalfa production changes little from year to year and during the year and was approximately 150,000 acres in 2025.ยฒยฒ In 2025, other significant field crops were Bermuda grass and kleingrass, whose average irrigated area was 80,000 and 20,000 acres, respectively. The area devoted to garden crop production changes greatly throughout the year and is largest between November and March. Little land area is devoted to garden crop production in the heat of summer. The most significant garden crops are lettuce, onions, carrots, and broccoli.
Figure 5. Area of IID irrigated for di๏ฌerent categories of crops in 2025. Field crops include alfalfa that is also plotted separately.
Water use by IID is typically lowest between November and February when garden crops are grown (Fig. 6). Water use increases greatly in March and remains high through October when field crops are the primary focus of production (see Appendix).
Figure 6. Box-and-whisker plots of total monthly consumptive use by the IID between 2010 and 2026. Each box is the Inter Quartile Range, defined by the 25th and 75th percentile of the years of data for that month. These boxes represent the typical monthly use pattern since 2010. Red dots are the average use in each month between 2024 and 2026. See text for additional explanation of a box-and-whisker plot.
Reductions in consumption during the past few years have been accomplished primarily by reduced water use between June and September when alfalfa and grass hay are the primary crops. These reductions are reflected in Figure 5 where red dots are the average monthly water use since 2024. Red dots plot below the grey boxes of the IQR in June, July, August, and September, demonstrating that recent water use in these months has been significantly less than typical since 2010. In contrast, recent water use between December and May has been within or slightly less than the IQR.
Agricultural use of mainstem Colorado River water in Arizona
We estimated agricultural use of mainstem Colorado River water in Arizona by subtracting the total diverted by the CAP from the total use in Arizona. This remainder includes all the agricultural uses along the Colorado River as well as a small amount used by the City of Yuma, other towns along the river, and military bases.ยฒยณ
The monthly pattern of water use is similar to the monthly pattern by the IID. The smallest uses are between November and February (Fig. 7). Consumptive use increases in March and is highest between April and August.
Reductions in water use by these Arizona growers have been more modest than by IID. Recent average use has been somewhat less than the typical range between April and July and has been within the typical range in other months, except for November when there was significant precipitation near Yuma in 2025.
Figure 7. Box-and-whisker plots of total monthly consumptive use in Arizona by users of mainstem Colorado River not served by the CAP between 2010 and 2026. Each box is the Inter Quartile Range, defined by the 25th and 75th percentile of the years of data for that month. These boxes represent the typical monthly use pattern since 2010. Red dots are the average use in each month between 2024 and 2026. See text for additional explanation of a box-and-whisker plot.
Management and Policy Implications
Consumptive water use of mainstem water in the Lower Basin has been less than 7.5 maf/yr in every year but one since 2010. Since 2023 including forecast use in 2026, this reduction ranged between 1.4 and 1.7 maf/yr. The Lower Basin states have reduced water use comparable to the initial targets for Lower Basin shortages described in the recently released ROD24 and Operating Guidelines for 2027 and 2028.25 Thus, the good news is that the initial shortage goals of the FEIS have been achieved in recent years.
These savings have been achieved by large reductions in use by the CAP (Fig. 3) and by reduced agricultural water use in summer by IID (Fig. 6) and non-CAP water users in Arizona (Fig. 7). These reductions in agricultural water use have not resulted in changes of the amount of water consumed in winter when garden crops are grown.
The ROD allows for potentially large Lower Basin shortages of up to 3 maf/yr and potentially more in the event that Basin runoff continues to be low and reservoir live storage drops to critical levels. We placed these potential shortages in perspective by summing the smallest monthly use in each Lower Basin state since 2010 even though these months of smallest use did not occur in the same year. In some cases, the smallest water use was not due to significant water conservation but to unusually rainy conditions when demand for supplemental irrigation water was low, such as in November 2025. In other words, there is no historical experience with implementing the annual sum of these smallest monthly uses, because the smallest monthly uses did not occur in the same year.
Nevertheless, summing the lowest monthly use in each state provides perspective to the magnitude of the proposed 3 maf/yr shortages. The summed value of smallest monthly uses yields a potential minimum annual Lower Basin use of 5.03 maf/yr for the three Lower Basin states (Table 2). Although many of the months of smallest use occurred between 2022 and 2026, some were unique months of very low use in the 2010s. There is no historical analogy for imposition of the largest Lower Basin shortages envisioned by the recently released ROD and 2027-28 Operating Guidelines. [ed. emphasis mine]
Table 2. Smallest monthly consumptive use in each Lower Basin state since 2010.
CONCLUSION
The analyses summarized in this paper demonstrate that agricultural water use that supports winter garden crop production has not changed despite recent reductions in annual water use by IID or by non-CAP water users in Arizona. To date, water use by IID and by non-CAP water users in Arizona has been reduced in summer when garden crops are not grown. In times of acute water shortage, it is likely that continued and additional water savings can be achieved by reductions in irrigation of field crops in summer, without causing shortages to garden crop irrigation in the winter.
It is notable, however, that summing the lowest monthly water use in each state since 2010 results in a theoretical reduction from the Lower Basin allocation of 7.5 maf/yr of approximately 2.5 maf/yr, less than the maximum potential Lower Basin shortage envisioned in the recently released ROD. Our calculation of a theoretical shortage is based on summing the smallest use in each month between 2010 and 2026, and these months are not all in the same year. In some cases, the lowest use resulted from unusually large precipitation that reduced irrigation demand, rather than explicit conservation efforts.
The Priority Shortage Allocation Model utilized in the FEIS distributes shortages among the Lower Basin states in a much different manner than the way shortages have been achieved in the past.26 Tabulating the historical minimum monthly uses demonstrates that achieving the 3 maf/yr reductions described in the FEIS and ROD would be very difficult and is without historical precedent. Implementation of such large shortages would likely require new management policies, including compensated fallowing, permanent retirement of irrigated acreage and corresponding water rights, and unprecedented investment in increased irrigation efficiency.
We recognize that our theoretical comparison of minimum monthly uses since 2010 in no way captures the economic dislocation and secondary impacts that might result from implementing such shortages now. A full economic analysis of the impacts of the largest potential Lower Basin reductions described in the FEIS and the ROD is critical for understanding the consequences of significant reductions in water use in the Lower Basin. That type of analysis is beyond our expertise. Nevertheless, we recognize the importance of such an analysis, and we recognize the real-world distress that such large reductions of use might cause.
1ย Center for Colorado River Studies, Utah State University, former Chief, Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center.
2ย Getches-Wilkinson Center, Univ. of Colorado Law School, former US Commissioner, Upper Colorado River Commission, former Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, US Dept. of the Interior.
3ย Retired General Manager, Colorado River Water Conservation District.
4ย Kyl Center for Water Policy, Arizona State University, former Director, Phoenix Water Services.
5ย Sta๏ฌ Attorney, Utton Transboundary Resources Center, University of New Mexico.
7ย All annual data in this paper are calendar year. 2024 is the most recent year that consumptive uses and losses data are available for the entire Basin.
8ย Richter et al., 2024, New water accounting reveals why the Colorado River no longer reaches the sea. Communications Earth & Environment 5:134. available at https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01291
โน Upper Basin state uses in Table 1 do not include state reservoir evaporation. Total major and minor state reservoir evaporation is listed separately in Table 1. Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) reservoir evaporation is evaporation from Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, Flaming Gorge, and Lake Powell reservoirs. Source of Upper Basin data: J. Prairie, Upper Colorado Basin Research and Modeling Group Chief, Bureau of Reclamation. Source of Lower Basin state uses: Reclamation. 2025. Water use report: Arizona, California, Nevada, calendar year 2024. Source of mainstem reservoir evaporation (Mead, Mohave, Havasu) data: S. Tighi, Hydrologist, Reclamation, Lower Colorado Region. Evaporation at Senator Wash and diversion dams estimated at 28,000 af.
10 Department of the Interior, August 2026, Operating Guidelines: Colorado River Guidelines for Coordinated Operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, Operating Years 2027 and 2028 (2027-28 Operating Guidelines), available atย https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/decision-doc/2027-2028OperatingGuidelines_Final.pdf. We note that these Operating Guidelines provide for 1.25 maf/yr of shortage, allocated among the Lower Basin states as previously proposed: 760,000 af/yr in Arizona, 440,000 af/yr in California, and 50,000 af/yr in Nevada, The distribution of shortages greater than 1.25 maf/yr is not specified but would presumably be subject to consultation. See 2027-28 Operating Guidelines at 5.3.A. The ROD allows for the development of different methods of shortage allocation. See ROD at 5.
ยนยฒ Lower Colorado River Water Accounting – Actual Water Use and Official Water Use Forecast, both available at https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/wtracct.html. Throughout this paper, we refer to the forecast for 2026 that was made on September 1, 2026. The forecast is frequently revised.
ยนยณ There is no significant water use in the Grand Canyon.
14 Average Lower Basin consumptive use between 2010 and 2025 was 6.880 maf/yr.
16 Average use between 2010 and 2022 was 4.326 maf/yr. Average use between 2023 and (forecasted) 2026 will be 3.764 maf/yr.
17 Average use between 2010 and 2022 was 2.600 maf/yr. Average use between 2023 and (forecasted) 2026 will be 2.290 maf/yr.
18 Average use between 2010 and 2022 was 925,000 af/yr. Average use between 2023 and (forecasted) 2026 will be 804,000 af/yr.
19ย Average use between 2010 and 2022 was 2.590 maf/yr. Average use between 2023 and (forecasted) 2026 will be 1.930 maf/yr.
20ย IID used 2.187 maf in 2025, 2.312 maf in 2024, and is forecast to use 2.242 maf in 2026. Median use between 2010 and 2026 was 2.546 and use in 50% of the years of that period was between 2.481 and 2.558 maf/yr.
22ย Total net area of crops in 2025 was approximately 350,000 acres.
23ย Forecast use in 2026 for Bullhead City, Lake Havasu City, Parker, Yuma, U.S. Army Yuma Proving Grounds, and the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Yuma is 35,000 af.
25ย Department of the Interior, August 2026, Operating Guidelines: Colorado River Guidelines for Coordinated Operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, Operating Years 2027 and 2028 (2027-28 Operating Guidelines), available atย https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBasin/post2026/decision-doc/2027-2028OperatingGuidelines_Final.pdf. We note that these Operating Guidelines provide for 1.25 maf of shortage in each year, allocated among the Lower Basin states as previously proposed: 760,000 af in Arizona, 440,000 af in California, and 50,000 af in Nevada. The distribution of shortage greater than 1.25 maf/yr is not specified but would presumably be the subject of consultation. See 2027-28 Operating Guidelines at 5.3.A. The ROD allows for the development of di๏ฌerent methods of shortage allocation. See ROD at 5.
26ย See FEIS Appendix C, Shortage Allocation Model and Alternative Distribution Model Documentation, at C.4.2. However, the ROD specifies that other methods of shortage allocation may be developed. ROD at 5.
Colorado River “Beginnings”. Photo: Brent Gardner-Smith/Aspen Journalism
You have likely heard news about El Niรฑo recently. The National Weather Service reports that El Niรฑo officially began in June. Observations from the International Research Institute show that it continues to strengthen. There is a greater than 90% chance of this becoming a โsuperโ El Niรฑo, and a greater than 50% chance of it becoming the strongest event since modern record-keeping began in 1950. Here is a look at what El Niรฑo is and why it matters for Colorado.
El Niรฑo refers to a climate pattern characterized by unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (image 1). Normally, waters in the eastern Pacific (off the coast of South America) are much cooler than those in the western Pacific (near Indonesia and Papua New Guinea) (image 2). Earthโs rotation drives tropical trade winds from east to west, pushing warm surface water westward and pulling cool, deep ocean water to the surface along the coast of South America. During El Niรฑo, these trade winds weaken, allowing warm water to spread east and suppressing the normal upwelling of cold water.
Image 1: Sample sea surface temperaure anomalies (Celsius) during El Niรฑo (left) and La Niรฑa (right). Source: climate.gov
Image 2: Average sea surface temperatures (Celsius). Source: nasa.gov
El Niรฑo conditions typically peak during northern hemisphere winter. Peruvianย fishermenoriginally named the phenomenon (Spanish for โlittle boy,โ or โChrist childโ) after noticing coastal waters warmed around Christmas. While this meant less productiveย fishingย in South America, El Niรฑo also alters global oceanic and atmospheric circulation. Its most predictable weather impacts include warmer, wetter weather in the eastern Pacific, drier conditions across the Amazon, and warm, dry weather in Indonesia (image 3). These circulation shifts ripple into natural and human systemsโfor instance, El Niรฑo correlates with higher mosquito-borne mortality in South America.
Image 3: Typical El Niรฑo impacts to global weather. Source: noaa.gov
North America is impacted by El Niรฑo as well. In response to weaker tropical trade winds, the northern hemisphere polar jet stream tends to weaken, and split with a more active southern flank. This raises the odds of cooler, wetter conditions across the U.S. Sunbelt, drier weather to the Ohio River Valley, and warmer conditions to the Pacific Northwest, north-central U.S., and a wide swath of Canada, and Alaska (image 4).
Here are the typical outcomes from both El Niรฑo and La Niรฑa for the US. Note each El Niรฑo and La Niรฑa can present differently, these are just the average impacts. Graphic credit: NWS Salt Lake City office
Historicalย correlationย analysis shows El Niรฑo is also linked to changes in Colorado weather, where conditions are generally wetter during El Niรฑo years (image 5). This is especially true in fall and spring, when much of the state averages higher precipitation. Furthermore, the Front Range and Eastern Plains are more prone to large spring snowstorms and experience fewer dry and windy spring days (though such days remain frequent regardless). Unfortunately, the link between the El NiรฑoโSouthern Oscillation (ENSO) and peak seasonal snowpack levels in Colorado is weak. Southern river basins, such as the San Juan and Rio Grande, show a loose positive correlation between El Niรฑo and snowpack (image 6).
Image 5: Statistical relationship between El Niรฑo Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and precipitation in Colorado. Green areas tend to be wetter during El Niรฑo and blue areas tend to be wetter during La Niรฑa.
mage 6: Linear correlation between ENSO RONI and peak season snowpack in major Colorado river basins. Blue = more snow on average during El Niรฑo. Brown = more snow on average during La Niรฑa.
Does a stronger El Niรฑo guarantee more intense impacts? Not necessarily. Linear correlation models assume stronger events yield stronger outcomes, but real-world evidence is limited. Modern records include only three โsuperโ El Niรฑos (sea surface temperature anomalies of +2.0 ยฐC or higher): 1982/83, 1997/98, and 2015/16. While 1982/83 delivered huge snowfall to Colorado, the latter two yielded roughly average conditions. Drawing firm conclusions from three events is unreliable, and our physical understanding of Earthโs climate system offers no clear threshold where impacts suddenly scale. On the positive side, dynamical seasonal climate models and the Climate Prediction Center both indicate elevated odds of above-normal precipitation across most of Colorado through spring.
Climate change complicates our understanding of what we can expect from a strong El Niรฑo. Earthโs climate system has changed since the super El Niรฑo and major snow year of 1982/83. Colorado is warming, and average precipitation is likely decreasing in western Colorado. The correlation analyses shown above do not account for these shifting baselines. A wet year is not guaranteed. Even if the storms do come, less of the precipitation may fall as snow than in a typical year, especially at lower elevations. Colorado continues to suffer from severe droughtlargely driven by snowpack deficits last winter and record warm temperatures. There is a strong appetite among people for moisture. The brewing super El Niรฑo may offer some hope, but a wide array of outcomes are possible this winter. It is a bit like playing a game of poker with a few extra aces and kings in the deck. The deck may be stacked in our favor, but we could still draw a crummy hand.
Click the link to read the article on the Grist website (Austin Corona):
August 28, 2026
Nevada officials have long presented themselves as a voice for compromise and conservation in debates over the Colorado River. The Las Vegas area, home to two-thirds of the stateโs population and most of its economy, has become a model of urban water conservation. As the river has declined from overuse and a decades-long drought exacerbated by climate change, southern Nevada water planners built extensive water reuse facilities and implemented tight restrictions on new turf and fountains, dropping the regionโs per capita water use by 58 percent in roughly 20 years. Meanwhile, in interstate negotiations over the management of the Colorado River, state representatives have positioned themselves as bridge-builders, sometimes referring to themselves as the โmiddle basinโ between the riverโs divided upper and lower basin states.
When the federal governmentโs new management plan for the river was announced earlier this month, most observers thought Arizona, which stands to take the largest immediate cuts, would launch the first lawsuit over the planโs implications for its water supplies. So it came as a surprise to many Colorado River experts when Nevada became the first to sue the federal government over the plan this week.
โI expected that there would be litigation, but it was surprising to me that Nevada fired the first shot,โ said Anne Castle, former chair of the Upper Colorado River Commission.
The natural flow flow at Lees Ferry, which is a calculation of what the Colorado Riverโs flow would be without any upstream dams, diversions, or human consumption. Land Desk graph using Bureau of Reclamation data.
Nevadaโs lawsuit comes after more than two years of negotiations among the seven Colorado River states and the federal government over how to reduce water use on the declining river. The states failed to reach a long-term agreement before the riverโs current management procedures expire in October, leaving the Interior Department to impose its own plan. The federal governmentโs plan largely relies on cuts to water use among the Lower Basin states โ Arizona, Nevada, and California โ to prop up water levels in the riverโs largest reservoirs. Those reservoirs have been draining so quickly that the dwindling water depth could threaten hydropower and dam operations within months without intervention.
Nevada argues that the federal governmentโs plan illegally forces it to take too much of those cuts. In a worst-case scenario, the plan could allow for a 71 percent cut to the Las Vegas areaโs water supply, the state argued, calling it an unacceptable risk to the stateโs largest population center and economic hub. Nevada believes this outcome results from a misreading of the law and also claims the government didnโt consider important alternatives to such drastic cuts.
This worst-case scenario, which experts say is an interpretation of the planโs implications by Nevada, would become possible if reservoir levels continue to drop and if Nevada couldnโt reach an agreement with Arizona and California to help it absorb more of those cuts. Those three states already have such an agreement, which is incorporated into the federal plan and meant to last through 2028, at which point the plan allows the states to update the operations with a new agreement. Without an agreement, the federal government will implement cuts based on preexisting water rights and agreements, cutting the most from Arizona and leaning increasingly on Nevada and California as potential shortages increase. The plan was created through a decision-making process required under the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, which mandates that federal agencies gather public input and consider environmental and socioeconomic impacts of major decisions.
Map of the Colorado River drainage basin, created using USGS data. By Shannon1 Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0
On its surface, Sloanโs Lake is a beautiful oasis that offers a refuge from city life. Part of one of the largest parks in Denver, it features glistening water, mountain views and plenty of paved paths to walk a dog, catch up with a friend or train for a race. But just beneath its gentle waves is a murky, sometimes smelly truth. The [North] Denver lake is slowly filling in with stormwater sludge. The surprisingly shallow water is often quite warm, making it a difficult environment for fish to survive and an easy place for dangerous algae blooms to thrive. If the accumulating muck isnโt addressed soon, the lake is at risk of becoming fully stagnant and bereft of life. On Wednesday, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston stood alongside members of the City Council and advocates for the lakeโs future to announce a plan to invest tens of millions of dollars to prevent that from happening.
โA lake that used to be 12 feet deep is in some places only 4 feet deep. It affects the lakeโs health. It affects algae blooms. It affects our most beloved events,โ Johnston said from the lakeโs shore. โWe think thereโs nothing more important for the long-term health of this neighborhood than to support the long-term health of this lake.โ
Dragon boat practice at Sloan’s Lake August 29, 2026.
To raise more money for the cleanup effort, Johnstonโs administration will ask the Denver Urban Renewal Authority to add the lake to a nearby urban renewal district south of the park. That would allow it to benefit from money raised through an already-approved tax incentive in the area…The 177-acre lake, which plays host toย the annual Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, is only 3 feet deep on average…Swaths of neighborhoods in Denver, Edgewater, Lakewood and Wheat Ridge drain into the lake, bringing sand, sediment and street crud. Over time, that has built up and begun filling in the bottom of the lake. The cleanup project will include dredging sediment out of the bottom of the lake and disposing of it. Crews will also work on ways to prevent more sediment from building up in the lake. Kurt Weaver, the executive director ofย the Sloanโs Lake Park Foundation, asked the community to keep advocating for the project throughout the entire construction process to ensure itโs completed.
โTo be able to have an opportunity to write a new future for the lake is massive for us, the community around it and everyone who spends time here at the lake,โ he said.
Cormorants on old pier pilings at Sloans Lake April 12, 2026.
Thank you so much for attending the 2026 Summer Conference! We enjoyed hosting you, and we hope to see you at our Annual Convention in January.
Recordings from the Conference are now available on our website! These recordings are only for conference attendees, so please do not share this information.
Aerial photograph of a municipal waterwater plant, provided by Storyblocks.
by Robert Marcos
Cities in the Western United States are deploying advanced municipal water recycling technologies to combat chronic drought and to establish local, climate-resilient water supplies. By combining multi-barrier purification, natural filtration, and direct or indirect potable reuse, these municipalities are pioneering sustainable water management.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles relies on a multi-tiered water recycling system that treats municipal wastewater to fit-for-purpose standards. At a minimum, the city utilizes tertiary treatment involving screening, biological neutralization, chemical coagulation, and filtration. This water is distributed via an extensive network to over 400 commercial facilities for landscape irrigation and cooling towers. For its ambitious Pure Water Los Angeles and Groundwater Replenishment initiatives, LA applies advanced treatmentโincluding micro-filtration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet light disinfection with hydrogen peroxide. This highly purified water is injected into local aquifers for groundwater recharge, creating a sustainable, drought-resilient local supply. 1
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix maximizes its treated wastewater through a combination of non-potable distribution and advanced purification planning. Currently, the city treats municipal wastewater to Class A+ standards, delivering it to regional partners for agricultural use, park irrigation, and tech sector demands like data center and industrial cooling towers. To secure long-term water sustainability, Phoenix is constructing dedicated advanced water purification facilities under the Pure Water Phoenix initiative. This system will subject pre-treated recycled water to multi-barrier technologiesโspecifically ozonation, membrane ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet advanced oxidationโsafely transforming reclaimed wastewater into high-quality drinking water distributed directly to thousands of area homes. 2
San Diego, California
San Diego is in the process of implementing its multi-phase program to drastically reduce its heavy reliance on imported water. The city utilizes a rigorous five-step advanced purification process to clean municipal wastewater at its demonstration and upcoming production sites. Secondary effluent undergoes ozonation, biologically active carbon filtration, membrane filtration, reverse osmosis, and high-intensity ultraviolet disinfection. While Phase One routes this purified water into the Miramar Reservoir for an environmental buffer and further blending, Phase Two adapts to updated California regulations. This allows the San Diego Pure Water Project to utilize direct potable reuse, piping the ultra-pure water directly into the drinking water distribution system after remineralization. 3
Orange County, California
Orange County operates the Orange County GWRS, the world’s largest advanced water purification facility for indirect potable reuse. The system takes secondary-treated municipal wastewater that would otherwise be discharged into the Pacific Ocean and subjects it to a rigorous three-step purification process. This advanced flow includes microfiltration to remove solids, reverse osmosis to eliminate dissolved salts, pharmaceuticals, and viruses, and ultraviolet light combined with hydrogen peroxide advanced oxidation to destroy remaining trace organic compounds. The near-distilled quality water is then pumped to inland basins to naturally percolate into the groundwater basin, serving as a primary drinking source. 4
Aurora, Colorado
Aurora utilizes the innovative Aurora Prairie Waters project, a pioneering potable reuse system designed to maximize its fully consumable water rights. After municipal wastewater is treated and discharged into the South Platte River, Aurora recaptures the water downstream using a natural-technical hybrid method. First, riverbank filtration wells pull water through hundreds of feet of sand and gravel. Next, an aquifer recharge and recovery process allows the water to percolate through additional natural filters. Finally, the water is piped uphill to an advanced purification facility for state-of-the-art technical polishing before blending with mountain snowmelt for public consumption. 5
El Paso, Texas
El Paso is building the Pure Water Center, which will be the nation’s first direct-to-distribution water reuse facility that sends purified wastewater straight into the city’s drinking water system. Currently the city’s Fred Hervey plant treats municipal wastewater and injects it into the underground Hueco Bolson aquifer to recharge drinking supplies. The City’s Pure Water Center will take secondary effluent and subject it to multi-stage membrane filtration, advanced oxidation, and disinfection. Instead of utilizing an environmental buffer, this purified water will flow directly into the municipal drinking water system, after being blended with treated brackish groundwater. 6
Blue Mesa Reservoir on the Gunnison River, seen Aug. 30, 2026 at about 21% full. Anglers and boaters say federal water management decisions are negatively impacting fish and recreation below the reservoir. CREDIT: HEATHER SACKETT/ASPEN JOURNALISM
As this yearโs historic drought drags on, conflicts over how to share and manage water are bubbling over. Gunnison River anglers and boaters say federal water-management decisions are causing increased water temperatures, prompting fishing closures, and creating serious economic impacts to outfitters and businesses.
An Aug. 26 letter from Drew Peternell, Colorado state director of Trout Unlimited, to U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Area Manager Bart Deming, asks the federal agency to change its approach to drought management. The river conservation nonprofit organization asked Reclamation to increase streamflows in the Black Canyon and Gunnison Gorge to alleviate damage to the fishery; to evaluate water use by downstream irrigators; and to better understand the drivers of storage depletion.
โWe acknowledge that the extraordinary drought conditions of the current water year present significant operational challenges,โ the letter reads. โNevertheless, the decision to reduce flows in the Gunnison River has exerted a toll on a vital and cherished natural resource.โ
At a public Aug. 27 operations meeting in Grand Junction, Reclamation officials said they plan to reduce flows out of Blue Mesa Reservoir to as low as 200 cubic feet per second through February, in an effort to recover some storage in the reservoir, which is depleted after this yearโs record-breaking drought and hot temperatures. Flows so far this month have hovered around 245 cfs.
Peternell said Trout Unlimited would like to see flows of at least 300 cfs in the Gunnison River, the minimum threshold for a healthy environment set by a federal reserve water right. The Black Canyon and Gunnison Gorge are home to a 27-mile-long Gold Medal trout fishery and are downstream of the federally operated Aspinall Unit, which is made up of Blue Mesa, Morrow Point and Crystal reservoirs.
โItโs been a tough year for everyone and thereโs not enough water to go around, unfortunately, so we appreciate that Reclamation is in a tough spot,โ Peternell said in an interview with Aspen Journalism. โBut 300 cfs is a minimum flow target for the Black Canyon and itโs the minimum amount of water the fishery really needs to survive down there, and weโre below that. Weโre down to 250 or 240, and thatโs hard on the fish, itโs hard on the people who make a living off that fishery.โ
Federal water managers control how much water flows out of the Aspinall Unit in the highly engineered Gunnison River system, which is the largest tributary of the Colorado River in the state. Reclamation officials project storage in Coloradoโs largest reservoir could fall to just 128,000 acre-feet, or 15% full, by the end of the year under the most probable scenario.
At the Aug. 27 meeting, officials presented modeling that showed releasing water at a rate of 300 cfs could cause Blue Mesa to fall below the level needed to make hydropower, but 200 cfs will allow storage to build back up slightly over the winter. Reclamation officials presented modeling projections that showed if they donโt reduce releases now, the amount of water coming out of Blue Mesa may need to be dialed back to just 150 cfs this winter to preserve the ability to make hydropower.
โIf we didnโt act, this slide right here is a plane going down and we pull up at the last second,โ said Reece Carpenter, a Reclamation staffer with the Resources Management Division at the Western Area Office in Grand Junction. โSo itโs very important for Reclamation and all of our partners to have that coordination to make some decisions.โ
This management decision rests on a sentence in theย Record of Decisionย for the Aspinall Unitโs environmental impact statement, designed to protect endangered fish, that says โthe minimum downstream flow through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area is 300 cfs, except in severe drought when the flow may decrease.โ And the Colorado River Basin is experiencing the most severe drought in recorded history.
Tim Patterson, owner of RIGS Fly Shop & Guide Service in Ridgway and who has been guiding for more than 30 years, said Gunnison Gorge trips represent more than half of his companyโs guiding and outfitting business, and that flows of 200 cfs are a deal breaker. Low flows contribute to higher water temperatures, which can lead to fishing closures, and make navigating some rapids difficult, if not impossible.
Patterson would like more advance notice from federal water managers when flows will be dropping, and real-time temperature and flow monitoring. Patterson said he has already canceled a handful of trips this year and may have to cancel more if flows stay below about 250 cfs.
โThe Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area, as far as a guided fly-fishing trip, is a bucket-list trip known around the world and a must-do,โ Patterson said. โSo people have planned for over a year in advance for this experience, and it just puts us in a real tough spot.โ
Boaters in the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area. A Ridgway outfitter said he has had to cancel trips this year because of low flows in the river. CREDIT: RIGS FLY SHOP & GUIDE SERVICE
Farmers facing โimmeasurable hardshipโ
While flows in the river decline, downstream irrigators are still taking nearly their entire allocation of water. The Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association is still diverting just more than 1,000 cfs through the Gunnison Tunnel. The association is a vast expanse of farmland that extends from just south of Montrose to Delta, and is the largest water user in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Water from the Gunnison River transforms the arid high desert into lush green fields of corn, pinto beans, onions and alfalfa.
The association normally gets half of its water supply from the Uncompahgre River. But this basin saw some of the worst snowpack in the state at just 14% of median. That means farmers in this area are experiencing deep water cuts this year. And some growers made the tough decision to leave fields dry and unplanted this year.
โIโve got a senior water right, and I got 50% of my system thatโs fallowed right now,โ Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association General Manager Steve Pope said at the Aug. 27 meeting.
This field in the Uncompahgre Valley Water Users Association district has been fallowed this season due to a lack of water. The state of Colorado announced Wednesday that it will set up a conservation program using federal dollars, which means more fields on the Western Slope could soon look like this.ย CREDIT:ย HEATHER SACKETT/ASPEN JOURNALISM
This yearโs conditions on the Gunnison River highlight how tensions are exacerbated among water-user groups โ especially in times of extreme drought. Coloradoโs prior appropriation system of water law says the oldest water rights have first use of the river, which almost always means agricultural water users get their water first.
The state didnโt begin to grant water rights for the environment until the 1970s and for recreation until around the early 2000s. Although a large part of the Western Slopeโs economy, culture and identity is now centered around outdoor recreation, keeping enough water in rivers for boating and fish is often the last priority.
The letter from Trout Unlimited asks Reclamation to evaluate power contracts with the Uncompahgre Water Users Association, which has several hydropower generating stations on its system of canals, and implement clear efficiency standards for water use. The letter lists reasons that suggest more water is being diverted from the Gunnison River than is necessary for irrigation.
Pope called their concerns โabsolutely ridiculous.โ
โThese farmers have suffered immeasurable hardships this year, and for someone to say, โWe think you should further reduce to maintain water temperatures and fish flows in the Black Canyon,โโ Pope said. โThey donโt bring a water right to the table; they donโt bring anything but a demand, and I donโt agree with it. Irrigation and agriculture is the senior priority, and itโs going to be used.โ
Pope said he plans to dial back Gunnison River diversions to about 700 cfs by mid-September, but the river wonโt see a bump in flows because of Reclamationโs plan to keep dam releases low to build back storage.
This rock formation known as the Dillon Pinnacles on the shores of Blue Mesa Reservoir on Aug. 30, 2026. Federal water managers say they will hold reservoir releases to between 200 and 300 cfs until February in an effort to recover storage in the reservoir. CREDIT: HEATHER SACKETT/ASPEN JOURNALISM
Patterson is hoping his business can get through September โ which is the busiest month for multiday trips through the gorge โ relatively unscathed. He would like to see more collaboration and communication between water managers and water users, and he wants anglers to have a seat at the table.
Patterson framed the issue not as a fight among water users, but as an unevenly built safety net in times of shortage. For now, river recreation remains largely at the mercy of upstream decision-makers.
โWeโre seeing it all over the Colorado drainage,โ Patterson said. โYou canโt demand water that isnโt there. But passing it through a special place like this and working with us on times of years to minimize water temperature issues and things like that is a great step. I think it starts with acknowledging that this place is special and important and deserves to be protected.โ
The Government Highline Canal, courtesy ofย Wikipedia.
Click the link to read the article on the Big Pivots website (Allen Best):
September 3, 2026
Farmers served by the Government Highline Canal as of today will get no water, a result of last winterโs dismal snowpack and low levels in Green Mountain Reservoir
The Government Highline Canal has delivered water to farms in Coloradoโs Grand Valley during irrigation season for more than 110 years.
Thursday will be a first in that long history. No water will be available in that canal to farmers, even though the growing season has not ended.
โThis will be the first time since around 1914 the Government Highline Canal has been at undeliverable levels during the irrigation season, which usually runs until Nov. 1 (and sometimes later),โ said Tina Bergonzini, general manager of the Grand Valley Water Users Association.
Water supplied by reservoirs upstream in the Colorado River headwaters has essentially run out.
The predicament on the Colorado River had become apparent by April. Record-breaking heat of March made it extremely likely that runoff would be anemic. It got a bit better in May, but not much.
This was clearly evident at Green Mountain Reservoir, between Silverthorne and Kremmling. The dam had been built between 1938 and 1943, as part of a quid pro quo. Farmers in northeastern Colorado, particularly in the Fort Collins-Longmont-Greeley triangle, wanted to divert water from the Colorado River headwaters.
Western Slope representatives objected. They worried that they would lose irrigation water they needed after spring runoff subsided in June and July. The federally financed dam was the answer. It can hold nearly 154,745 acre-feet of water. Of that, 66,000 is marked for delivery to downstream irrigators, most in the Grand Junction area.
Green Mountain was the quid for the quo of the Colorado Big-Thompson Project annual diversion of between 200,000 and 230,000 acre-feet through the Continental Divide.
It worked โ until this year.
In April, the low levels in the reservoir made it clear that the farmers would not get the full amount of water they had come to expect. The Glenwood Springs-based Colorado River District created a plan to ease the shortage.
The district โ which had been created to look out after Western Slope interests in the 1930s โ looked into how it could tap various pools of water, getting a thimbleful here, a cupful there. Irrigators wouldnโt become whole, but they would get help, said Andy Mueller, the general manager of the River District at the boardโs April meeting.
DeBeque Canyon has changed somewhat since this photo of the Roller Dam was taken in 1916. Most notably, now the canyon has an interstate highway. Photo/U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. For a more complete history, see the Palisade Historical Society page.
Water for the Grand Valley Canal is diverted from the Colorado River at what is called the Roller Dam on the Colorado River just east of Palisade. It continues 55 miles down the valley, mostly north of I-70, ending near Mack, 10 miles from the Utah border.
The canal is called the โgovernmentโ for a good reason. It was built with federal money via the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, an agency created in 1902 to help turn arid places like the Grand Valley into gardens and orchards. Accounts vary about when the water began flowing in the canal. Some say 1913, others 1914 or 1915. Regardless, the water has always flowed since before the United States entered World War I.
Until this year.
Early in the irrigation season, irrigators benefitting from the canal agreed to curtail their water use in exchange for getting water from reservoirs near the Colorado River headwaters later in the season.
That sounds simple enough. The mechanics are complicated. Crucial to understand is the seniority of the โCameo callโ at the Roller Dam, where water is diverted. Upstream users have to honor that very senior call.
The call is for 1,950 cubic feet per second. Grand Valleyโs Bergonzini said her district lowered the target by 300 cfs and then another 200 cfs, or 1,450 cfs. That left a little more water in Green Mountain. Altogether, the reduced water diverted from the Colorado โ combined with the two storms during May โ brought the amount of water available in Green Mountain up to 50% of the allotment for the Grand Valley farmers.
This story has endless details. The essential story is that those with rights to water on the Colorado River within Colorado โ including a transmountain diverter, Northern Water โ have worked with the irrigation district to ensure the farmers in the Grand Valley had some water during the growing days of summer. Water officials stress what Bergonzini calls โteamwork and collaboration between entities.โ
Upstream reservoirs tapped included Wolford and Wiliams Fork, both near Kremmling, and Ruedi, near Basalt. An additional 5,000 came from Granby Reservoir late in the season.
Helping out were appropriations of $450,000 from the River District in April and then, in May, $585,000 from the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
Still, farmers dependent upon the ditch only got 50% of the water they normally would from Green Mountain.
Some of the teamwork involves Orchard Mesa Irrigation District. The Grand Valley and Orchard Mesa districts have an agreement to share shortages.
A short distance east of Palisade, water from the Colorado River is pumped up to Orchard Mesa. Photo/Allen Best
Orchard Mesa pumps water uphill from near Palisade to the mesa, site of many of the peaches for which Palisade is famous. Farther down on the Government Highline Canal, other farms grow alfalfa, wheat, and usually corn. This year, however, little corn was grown, yielding to Sudan grass, triticale, and barley, as they are shorter season and can be grown with less water, said Grand Valleyโs Bergonzini.
Both peach and grape orchards on Orchard Mesa have done quite well, said Rob Talbott, president of the irrigation districtโs board of directors.
The fundamental story, he said, is that โeverybody is doing whatever they can to share their water.โ
The sharing continues. The peach orchards need water now if they will be productive next year.
โThe peach trees (primarily on Orchard Mesa) need water right now to get ready for hibernation whereas my growers (served by Government Highline Canal) can wait for a bit to water in winter wheat and hay. They crop switched earlier this year to shorter season crops, so we have different needs,โ explained Bergonzini.
The canal is designed for flows of 730 cfs, not for the 100 cfs now available. As such, she said, itโs better to let the peach trees have the water now.
โThen, IF THE RIVER HAS RISEN SOME,โ said Bergonzini, using all-caps for emphasis in her e-mail, Grand Valley will take Orchard Mesaโs irrigation water and augment it with what is available in the river to get some crops watered along the 55-mile canal.
That could happen at the end of September.
โWe are planning on running late โ perhaps the middle of November if the weather allows without freezing, to assure our growers get good moisture on their fall crops,โ she said.
