States unveil plan to reduce water reliance on Colorado River

The initiative, called the Upper Basin System Conservation Pilot Program, will pay users with rights to the river’s water to forego their allocations temporarily.

EDITED BY LUKE REYNOLDS

December 21, 2022

States-unveil-plan-to-reduce-water-reliance-on-Colorado-River

The Upper Colorado River Commission, Salt Lake City, Utah, which represents Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, has released the details on its $125 million program designed to help alleviate water demand on the Colorado River.

The program will pay users with rights to the river’s water to forego their allocations temporarily. The initial program would pay water users at least $150 per acre foot of water conserved.

“From my perspective, the measure of success is not a particular volume of water,” said Chuck Cullom, Upper Colorado River Commission executive director, at the commission’s meeting Dec. 14. “We recognize that we are asking people in a significantly water-stressed environment to further curtail or reduce their beneficial consumptive use, through this compensated voluntary temporary approach.”

The program will depend on the passing of the Colorado River Basin Conservation Act, S. 4579, which would “extend certain deadlines applicable to pilot projects to increase Colorado River System water to address effects of historic drought conditions, and for other purposes.”

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