A shrinking water supply is always a concern in western Colorado.
The Colorado River District’s annual water seminar — a gathering of water managers, agricultural producers and elected officials — acts as group therapy. Everyone articulates their worst fears. But it drives urgency to come up with pro-active approaches to conserving water and preserving a regional way of life built around irrigated agriculture.
There’s been a lot of talk in 2024 of “meeting the moment” of a hotter, drier climate that depletes water resources at an accelerating pace. For the most part, water officials are doing just that.
From girding for negotiations around Colorado River operations post-2026 to the pooling of resources to acquire the historic Shoshone water rights in Glenwood Canyon to an effort to establish a Mesa County tech hub dedicated to improving the infrastructure and management of the Colorado River, 2024 has been a year of facing fears of water scarcity head on.
