Western Governors Association Annual Meeting

Here’s a recap of the final day of the Western Governors Association Annual Meeting, from Charles Ashby writing for The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article:

On the final day of a Western Governor’s Association conference in Park City, Utah, the Colorado governor told the state’s media that talks over Western water issues should focus on desalination plants and conservation measures rather than trying to squeeze more water from the upper basin states of the Colorado River. The governor said he and others heard from water experts in similar dry regions of the world, and walked away “with great optimism” that there are other ways that growing, dry regions of the Southwest can get the water they need…

Ritter said technologies have improved in desalinization and conservation that make it less likely such lower Colorado River states as California, Nevada and Arizona will have to look upstream for additional water, supplies that the upper states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico can ill afford to provide. The question, however, is whether they will. Ritter said the governors of those three lower states didn’t attend the conference, but did send representatives to it. “It was still an optimistic conversation,” Ritter said. “The optimism flows from the ability for those lower basin states to address some of those challenges in a manner other than looking for Colorado to provide more (water). We’re just not going to be able to provide more to the (Colorado River) compact, we’re just not.”