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The Colorado River States are Deadlocked and the River is Crashing. Will a ‘Grand Bargain’ Finally Get its Day?
June 26th, 2026
Via Water Education Foundation, commentary on a ‘wild idea’ to defuse the Colorado River Compact’s legal time bomb that has been kept alive by seasoned observers who believe it could still save the river: For the past 20 years, the Colorado River has been operated under a set of guidelines negotiated between the seven states […]
Read more »The Colorado River, Lifeline for Seven States, Drying Up At Its Source
June 26th, 2026
Via the Los Angeles Times, a report on the challenges facing the Colorado River: In the Rocky Mountains, where the Colorado River starts, the landscape is drier than anyone can remember. The lack of water is hitting Colorado ranchers and farmers hard, and reservoir levels are dropping. Scientists say the entire Southwest needs to permanently […]
Read more »Tensions Are Rising Between States That Rely on the Colorado River
June 15th, 2026
Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on what a prolonged drought means the nation’s largest reservoirs are dwindling, and litigation over access to water could lie ahead: Water in the Colorado River is dwindling to levels that haven’t been seen in decades, and the seven states whose residents and farmers depend on the […]
Read more »Arizona and Nevada Agree to Trade for Desalinated Pacific Ocean Water
June 4th, 2026
Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on how a decade-old treatment plant in San Diego County, Calif., could leave more water in the Colorado River for states facing severe shortages: San Diego could sell some of its rights to Colorado River water to Arizona and Nevada under a deal struck Wednesday that could […]
Read more »California’s Water Empire: Over 100 Years of Engineering, Extraction and Avoidance
May 28th, 2026
Via SoCal Water Wars, a look at how over a century of aqueducts, reservoirs, and political gambits has left California dependent on costly water systems built to serve growth—not the climate emergency now unfolding: California has more than 2,700 state, federal and local dams and reservoirs, including roughly 300 in Southern California. I include Hoover Dam […]
Read more »Could Ocean Desalination Help Solve Las Vegas’ Water Woes?
May 23rd, 2026
Via the Las Vegas Review Journal, a report that Las Vegas is exploring a water transfer deal with San Diego: Southern Nevada is now looking to the Pacific Ocean to ease its water woes. In a vote Thursday, the Southern Nevada Water Authority board approved a memorandum of understanding that allows General Manager John Entsminger […]
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