Colorado River Basin
Water Supply and Demand Study
Colorado River water managers have long understood
that the over-allocation of the Colorado River system,
coupled with growing water needs and the potential for
reduced supplies due to climate change will put the communities and resources relying on the river at significant risk
of prolonged water shortages in the future. For example,
the 1968 Colorado River Basin Project Act directed the
Secretary of the Interior to study long-range demands and
supply availability and develop a plan to meet the future
water needs of the West. The resulting study, published in
1975, found that the natural water supply of the Colorado
River Basin would be insufficient to meet the growing demands of the basin, thus leading to future shortages. The
study concluded that, unless the Basin States were willing
“to accept the limitation in water supply and pattern the
economic and social future of the basin to that limitation,” the only option available was “to augment the flows
of the Colorado River thus increasing its water supply and
permitting continued growth of water dependent developments.” More recently, in 2007, the seven Colorado River
Basin States renewed the investigation of augmentation
and identified feasible augmentation alternatives.
THE 2012 BASIN WATER SUPPLY AND DEMAND STUDY
The Colorado River Water Supply and Demand Study (“Basin Study”) is the next significant step in
developing a comprehensive plan to address the risks posed by imbalances between Colorado River
water supply and water needs in the basin. The $5.5 million recently completed Basin Study—the result of a comprehensive, three-year effort by Reclamation and the Basin States—builds on the earlier
work. The study confirms that without action, the Colorado River system will become increasingly unreliable and may no longer be able to sustain the communities and resources that rely on the Colorado River water supply. However, the study also shows targeted investments in water conservation
and augmentation projects can restore the reliability and sustainability of the Colorado River to meet
current and future water needs.
CALL TO ACTION
Ultimately, the Basin Study is a call to action. To implement the water conservation and augmentation projects identified in the study, significant additional efforts are required immediately. These
additional efforts, or next steps, include feasibility studies and potentially legislation and policy development. To implement these next steps, the U.S., States, key water agencies, tribes, and other stakeholders in the Colorado River system will need to work cooperatively to protect and enhance Colorado River system and its water supplies.
Next Steps include:
•Organization of themed working groups to explore current municipal, energy, and agricultural
conservation/reuse programs, the distribution of those programs across the Basin, and to identify
limitations and opportunities for future conservation programs
•Formation of a group of water users to develop and scope augmentation feasibility studies and
identify the appropriate means to fund and support such studies
• Develop improved ag to urban transfer procedures, permitting, and regulations
•Consider improvements to the Colorado River planning models as well as improve climate
change models
•Encourage the Upper Basin to explore the policy, verification, and legal issues relating to water
banking in the Upper Basin and conduct appropriate discussions with the Basin States
•Encourage the BOR to conduct an additional planning study for the 10 Tribes Coalition members
•Encourage all participants to continue to work together to develop and implement programs and
projects to improve the Colorado River system.
For more information, please contact
Chuck Cullom, CAP Colorado River Programs Manager at 623-869-2665.