Colorado Is Gearing up to Fight for Water Rights as the Colorado River Stalemate Continues

Will federal intervention save the Colorado River from federal control?

Colorado River governors will meet in D.C. on Friday to discuss water allocations, with federal intervention looming if no agreement is reached.

Colorado River states meet Friday in DC with federal deadline looming, litigation threat growing

Water levels at Lake Mead, Nevada, photographed from the Hoover Dam on Oct. 26, 2022, are at 26% of the reservoir’s capacity, which is visible from the change in color of the lake’s walls. (Photo by Jacob Fischler/States Newsroom/)The governors of six of the seven of the Colorado River Basin states plan to meet Friday in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to break a stalemate in Colorado River water negotiations.  Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has…

Polis, top negotiator to travel to DC in bid to break impasse on Colorado River

AURORA — Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and the state’s top negotiator are heading to Washington, D.C., this week to battle with other states over how the Colorado River will be managed for years to come. A 19-year-old federal and state agreement for how to manage the basin’s largest reservoirs, lakes Mead and Powell, will expire this fall. State, tribal, federal, industrial and environmental groups have weighed in on what the next set of reservoir r…

Colorado is gearing up to fight for water rights as the Colorado River stalemate continues

As Colorado continues to negotiate with the seven Colorado River basin states on the post-2026 operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the state’s attorney general and lead negotiator are ready for a legal battle if the states continue to clash. “If it comes to a fight, we will be ready,” said Becky Mitchell, the Colorado River commissioner, who represents the state on the Upper Colorado River Commission, at the Friday, Jan. 23 SMART Act hearin…

Fiery speeches and calls for compromise: What #ColoradoRiver negotiators are saying on eve of DC summit — Scott Franz (KUNC.org) #COriver #aridification #cwcac2026

Water policymakers from (left to right) Utah, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming speak on a panel at the Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas on December 5, 2024. State leaders are deeply divided on how to share the shrinking water supply, and made little progress to bridge that divide at the annual meetings. Photo credit: Alex Hager/KUNC Click the link to read the article on the KUNC website (Scott Franz): January 29, 2…