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The #ColoradoRiver is shrinking due to #ClimateChange, which means the nation's 2 largest #reservoirs, #LakeMead & #LakePowell, created by #dams, have reached record low levels in recent years amid a #megadrought spanning >2 decades. If #water levels fall much lower, they could lose the ability to generate #hydropower within the massive dams that hold them back, or even lose the ability to pass water downstream.

The 2022 #InflationReductionAct allowed President #Biden to designate $4B for #ColoradoRiver programs, including big sums for programs that pay #farmers, #cities & #NativeAmerican [#IndigenousPeople] tribes to #conserve Colorado River #water &, instead, leave it in those #reservoirs. The payments are compensation for money they can't make by using water to grow crops or for other uses.

“If there's no funding," Bart Fisher, who sits on the board of the Palo Verde #Irrigation District in #California said, "there will be no #conservation."

#Farmers in Palo Verde use #ColoradoRiver #water to grow #cattle feed & #vegetables in the desert along the Arizona border. Fisher said they want to be active participants in protecting the river, but they stand to lose money if they use less water & grow fewer crops.

…Some #water experts say they are surprised to see these water conservation programs frozen by #Trump's executive order, since they do not appear to be in line w/the president's stated priorities of eliminating #diversity programs & boosting domestic #energy production.

"These are not woke environmental programs," said Anne Castle, who held federal water policy roles…. "These are essential to continued ability to divert #water."

#Water users whose #grants have been paused said they are asking the federal govt for more info & getting little in the way of answers. The #FederalAgencies in charge of Western water did not respond to NPR's requests for comment [probably because they were fired by #Musk].

#Conservation programs like the one sending money to #California #farmers have been key in boosting water supplies in major #reservoirs.

That is no small feat, as leaders of the states that use #ColoradoRiver #water are caught in a #legal standoff about how to share it going forward.…

"Having this appropriated funding suddenly taken away undoes years & years of very careful collaboration among the #states in the #ColoradoRiverBasin," Castle said, "& threatens the #sustainability of the entire system."

In addition to those #water #conservation programs, the #InflationReductionAct set aside hundreds of millions of dollars for projects aimed at keeping #ColoradoRiver tributaries #clean & #healthy. Conservation groups, small nonprofits, Native American tribes, & local governments were assigned federal money for a bevy of projects that included #Wildfire prevention & #HabitatRestoration.

Holly Loff, a grant writer in Western Colorado & the fmr dir of the Eagle River Watershed Council, said a continued pause on funding would cause a lot of #financial pain for communities near the #ColoradoRiver, such as those with economies dependent on water-based recreation, & people far away, like those who buy #produce that is grown w/ Colorado River #water.

"Our #economy is going to be impacted. It's…far reaching. I really can't think of how anyone can avoid being impacted."

@Nonilex the @coloradosun has been following this for a while, particularly issues around the Upper Colorado Basin. Trump removed the federal official from the Upper Colorado River Commission for no reason, and there is some doubt about whether the federal grant that would allow the River’s water to continue to freely flow through part of Glenwood Canyon would be released as planned.

https://coloradosun.com/2025/02/11/colorado-river-official-resign-leadership-gap-existential-time/

https://coloradosun.com/2024/10/08/colorado-congressional-delegates-urge-support-historic-colorado-river-water-deal/