Top officials from the U.S. Department of Interior, State Department and Bureau of Reclamation gathered Thursday to present the “Partners in Conservation Award” to partnerships that “achieved exemplary conservation results through cooperation and innovation across America.”

This year’s award recipients included representatives from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Sonoran Institute who have worked closely with other conservation groups and government officials from the U.S. and Mexico to orchestrate and secure a historic, binational, water-sharing agreement committed to implementing environmental restoration to the dry Colorado River delta.

This agreement, formally known as Minute 319, was among the first between nations to commit to sustaining shared natural values.

“We all knew going into this partnership that success would require buy-in from sovereigns with significant differences in water management practices, not to mention language, systems of governance and culture,” said Jennifer Pitt, director for EDF’s Colorado River Project. “Thanks to Interior’s willingness to work with conservation organizations, we were able to break down physical, political and cultural barriers to benefit water users on both sides of the border.”

Federal officials from the U.S. and Mexico worked with EDF and other conservation organizations on every aspect of the water agreement, including surplus and shortage sharing, rules that allow Mexico to store water in U.S. reservoirs, binational financing of a canal lining project to reduce seepage and water loss, and providing a venue for discussing future cooperative binational projects.

Pitt adds, “If we can show the long-term benefits of this five-year agreement, then there’s no limit to what we can achieve with long-term commitments to sharing water across borders.”

U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell

U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell provided the keynote address at the annual Colorado River Water Users Association (CRWUA) conference in Las Vegas last week. Jewell addressed hundreds of water providers including representatives from cities, agricultural irrigation districts and hydro-power administrations, among others, on the need for a balanced approach to bridge the growing gap between Colorado River water supply and demand.

Declining water levels at Lake Mead

The Secretary did not shy away from discussing the imminent threats posed by climate change on diminishing river flows and water supplies. She described this state of the river as the “new normal” and urged water managers to join her in supporting "healthy watersheds and sustainable, secure water supplies.” Jewell pointed to the binational agreement with Mexico, signed in 2012, as an example of cooperative water management. She commended the agreement for its help in initiating an ecological rejuvenation process for the Colorado River Delta.

For next Basin-wide steps, Jewell pointed to the proactive path set forth in the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study. With improved water conservation from both urban and agricultural users, water recycling and water banking, we can begin to level out the imbalance between supply and demand in an expedient and cost-effective fashion. Solving this water shortage is possible as long as cooperation and what’s best for the river itself and its users are the ultimate goals.

Secretary Jewell's clear support for this road map can allow stakeholders to forge ahead in hopes of restoring the proper balance for the environments, people, wildlife and economies that depend on a healthy Colorado River.

A statewide Arizona poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies on October 3-7 revealed that ensuring a reliable supply of water is now a top priority for Arizona voters, positioning fifth on a list of important issues, just below jobs and above state spending, taxes and crime. 74 percent of respondents said reliable water supplies are a “serious” or “very serious” concern.

Respondents also “strongly supported” incentives to promote water conservation and efficiency at the level of 71 percent for residential use and 64 percent for agriculture.

These results were encouraging, as they demonstrated to Arizona policymakers voter willingness to discuss water issues and solutions that benefit future generations – topics that have previously been politically unviable in Arizona and other Western states.

Even more importantly, the results showed specific support for water conservation – identified as a fast and cost-effective solution in the Bureau of Reclamation's Colorado River Basin Water Supply & Demand Study.

Water conservation programs have successfully been implemented all across the Colorado River Basin, but there is certainly room for more. Since Arizona will be among the first to feel the effects of shortages, it's prudent that Arizona residents support more water conservation. But conservation in Arizona, alone, is not enough.

All Colorado River water users – in Arizona as well as the six other U.S. river basin states and two states in Mexico – depend on a healthy river system for reliable water supplies. The sooner all of these water users can increase the amount of water they conserve, the less vulnerable they will be to water shortages, both today and for future generations.

Hersh's letter calls out some key points made by Secretary Jewell in last week's speech: "that we make every drop count, that we use water more sustainably and that there is more that can be done to use water more efficiently."

“Climate change is upon us,” Jewell said. “You see it in droughts throughout the West. You see it in the Colorado River. If you look at the levels in Lake Powell or Lake Mead or any of the other lakes that are in that region, you will see that we have a huge problem.”

As a small business owner and outdoors enthusiast in Colorado, Hersh's livelihood depends on a healthy Colorado River. Having lived in the area for more than 15 years, he has seen first-hand how that livelihood ebbs and flows as the climate and human demands upon the river shift.

In the past several years, Hersh has witnessed a frightening decline in the Colorado River and its tributaries. He has witnessed portions of the river run dry, causing imbalances that impact the ecosystems and wildlife on which his business depends.

“If we see another severe drought, we just won’t have the same business.” Simply put, “our river will dry up and my business will go away,” says Hersh.

"In Colorado the river supports nearly 80 jobs and pumps $6.4 billion into the state’s economy each year from people spending money on river-related recreation and tourism," Hersh writes. "These comments are a wake-up call for stakeholders to continue to work toward the conservation and efficiency measures that will ensure that all of the river’s users have the water we need to sustain the economies of the West."

But Hersh also understand that Jewell’s own agency, along with the seven Colorado River Basin States, recently completed the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study to project climate change impacts on the river and identify potential solutions.

Together with partners like Environmental Defense Fund and Protect the Flows, a coalition of business owners committed to protecting the Colorado River, Hersh is becoming a part of the solution. He says he is hopeful that we can shift the way we manage water in the West. But, the time to change that course has come and gone, making it crucial that we take action now.

Water flows downhill, and you wouldn’t think that rivers would stop for political boundaries, not even when national borders intersect a river channel’s natural course.  The Mekong flows through China, Laos, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, and Cambodia before it drains into the South China Sea.  The Nile watershed includes Ethiopia, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt, where its delta enters the Mediterranean Sea.

And then there’s the Colorado River (see map), which starts in the Rocky Mountain peaks of the United States, and flows into Mexico, where it empties into the Upper Sea of Cortez.  Except that usually it doesn’t:  the unsustainable demand for water from the river—so great that it exceeds the river’s supply—has for the last decade essentially desiccated the Colorado’s last hundred miles.  The need to restore flows and habitat in the Colorado River Delta is a topic I’ve written on before, and it’s very exciting to see the United States and Mexico cooperating to do just that.

So it was with considerable surprise that I looked at a new product from the United States Geologic Survey (USGS), their Streamer tool that shows how rivers run from anywhere in the United States.  USGS’s intent—to illustrate watersheds and inform us about how our favorite rivers connect to a larger landscape—is commendable.  But Streamer does not show rivers where they cross the United States border, and that is a problem.

On the Streamers website, I pointed to the headwaters of the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park and clicked on “trace downstream” to see the river’s route.  What I saw was a river course stopping abruptly at the Mexican border.  In many ways this mapping flaw illustrates why the Colorado’s delta was allowed to deteriorate so badly:  a federal government that sees borders as the limit of its responsibility is one that will not manage holistically. (See stories from the Colorado River Delta.)

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s 1974 map of the Colorado River

Until 2012, the United States’ management of the Colorado River was based on exactly this view:  whatever happened to the Colorado once it entered Mexico was beyond U.S. jurisdiction, and thus was excluded from consideration in river management.  And in fact for years, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency managing the Colorado, used maps showing the Colorado stopping at the border.  Thankfully some of their recent maps correct this, and moreover the U.S. and Mexico have agreed to work together on restoring the environment in the Colorado’s delta.

A final note of surprise at the Streamers map is that it shows the Colorado River draining into the Salton Sea.  That’s actually a fairly accurate depiction:  In 2012 the Imperial Irrigation District diverted some 2.9 million acre-feet, more than 20 percent of the Colorado’s annual average flow and perhaps as much as 40 percent of the river’s estimated flow that year.  This diversion empties the Colorado of the vast majority of flow left in the channel by the time it gets down below Parker Dam.  And close to 1 million acre-feet—7 percent of the river’s flow—drained from the Imperial Irrigation District into the Salton Sea, which is several orders of magnitude more water than flowed into the Colorado River Delta last year.

Perhaps USGS gets kudos for showing the actual flows—diverted into canals that take water out of the river for use elsewhere.  But then where are the diversions into California’s Colorado River aqueduct, about 7 percent of the river?  And the Central Arizona Project, about 12 percent?  Don’t those canals also drain the Colorado?

Mapping streamflow is informative and has great value.  USGS gets credit for a new and innovative tool, and I don’t doubt there are obstacles—both technical and political—to mapping rivers outside the borders of the United States.  But clipping rivers at international boundaries does a disservice to USGS’s viewers, and does not reflect the new, binational cooperation on the Colorado and elsewhere.  USGS could help the cause of healthy rivers by including their full courses, borders notwithstanding.

Read Jennifer Pitt's original blog for National Geographic here.

The view from my window this morning in Boulder, Colorado, is gloomy. Clouds hover over the mountains, reminding me of the storm we have weathered, and the dismal conditions here on the ground.

Torrential rains swept through Colorado’s Front Range this past week, resulting in calamitous floods that continue to threaten lives, destroy property, and disrupt our communities. As of this writing, more than one thousand people are “unaccounted for,” meaning they were likely in flooded areas and no one has been able to reach them yet. We hope they are safe, just lacking phone access; authorities warn us to expect more deaths. (See “Amid Drought, Explaining Colorado Floods.”)

I can see the Chinook helicopters out my window as their pilots brave cloudy skies to search for people stranded in the mountain towns just outside of Boulder. I wish them luck.

The rain is unprecedented. Total precipitation in Boulder in the last week ranged 15 – 18 inches, more than doubling the previous record for a single storm event, setting a new record for precipitation in any one month as well as a new all-time annual high for precipitation. Most years September is sunny and dry, and the snows of March make our “normal” wet month. If last week’s rain had fallen as snow we might have seen upwards of 12 feet of the white stuff.

Instead, we got torrents rushing down mountain slopes, bringing untold volumes of water, mud, and rocks into creeks and rivers. Boulder Creek, which runs through downtown, was furious and brown when I walked by yesterday afternoon.

My personal experience of the storm is minor compared to the tragedy that surrounds me, but it’s been disruptive nonetheless: schools closed, office closed, basement flooded, roof leaking, warnings from local authorities to stay home and off the streets, flood sirens blaring at night. For many thousands of us, the storm has disrupted routines, and the news of those less fortunate has been sobering.

Most Coloradans haven’t yet fully absorbed what has happened to a huge swath of our landscape. Moreover, it’s still happening as I write, with communities downstream bracing for floods as the crest travels. In Colorado’s northeastern plains the South Platte River is now receiving the combined floodwaters from the Cache la Poudre River to Clear Creek and the dozens of creeks in between that drain the mountains from Fort Collins down to Golden. Thousands of people will be evacuated from their homes for a yet unknown period. The storm’s impact is vast and continuing, and only as we dry out over the next few weeks will we begin to know its full toll.

If you find the news about Colorado’s latest disaster confounding, you’re not alone. The floods of 2013 follow on the heels of a summer of drought and extreme wildfires. That we are experiencing these extremes in a single year is truly incredible. Call it a case of climate disaster whiplash. Until last week, it has been easy to focus on the clear signal forecasting telling us that it has gotten warmer and drier, and that it will continue to do so as the decades pass. But in the midst of that drying trend, the models also tell us to expect rare wet extremes not seen before. Climate scientists warn of increasing VUCA, an acronym of military origins that stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. In other words, hang on for a wild ride.

Until last week, more than 90% of Colorado was in drought, including all of the Front Range and the eastern side of the state.

Just over the mountains the Colorado River Basin (from which the Colorado Front Range imports much of its water through tunnels) has been in drought conditions for more than a decade. Year after year in Colorado, we have lamented the absence of snowpack in the mountains, and headlines have recently been screaming the news about declining water supply. Ranchers have culled their herds for lack of animal feed, the ski and whitewater industries have had to make do with shortened seasons, and Front Range communities have had to conserve water to make reservoir supplies last through the hot summer. Colorado River water users to the south in Arizona, Nevada, California, and Mexico may soon get their first taste of what it’s like to live with reservoirs operating in shortage conditions.

The impact of Colorado’s droughts has not been limited to our water supply. The absence of precipitation in recent years resulted in tinder-box forest conditions. Catastrophic wildfires have devastated communities from Fort Collins down to Colorado Springs, claiming lives and all told destroying more than a thousand homes. The fires of 2013 raged through an unprecedented amount of the landscape, more than 140,000 acres all told.

It was only last summer that the view from my window was this smoky plume from a fire threatening the City of Boulder. (Thankfully our firefighters, with assistance from federal crews already in the state helping with big fires to the north and south, were able to put this one out quickly.)

Colorado, like other hard-hit places around the globe, is getting a taste of climate extremes. The challenges are impossible to add up: catastrophic flash floods, wildfires, the personal tragedies of lives lost and dislocated, hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure repair costs, crops lost to drought and crops lost to saturated fields, schools closed, communities isolated, water quality problems, lost revenues to businesses like ski areas, outfitters, river guides and the hospitality industry that depend on Colorado’s healthy rivers and robust snowpack.

Droughts, and wildfires and floods, oh my. Is this our new normal?

Read Jennifer Pitt's original blog for National Geographic here.

In touring the new brand, Coloradans will find that the spirit of the brand reflects the state's unique environment – specifically, its "raging rivers."

In Colorado, life is lived under the influence of nature. The mountains inspire how we think and 300 days of sunshine per year rejuvenates our spirit. Raging rivers and fourteeners embolden us to take risks. And serene mountain lakes and starry nights encourage us to relax. Everything we are as Colorado residents or visitors is based on the beauty that surrounds us. Nature is in our nature. And it’s our nature that is the essence of Colorado.

The new brand was also rolled out in a video that shows scenes of a kayak on a car and rafters in whitewater, while the narrator describes Colorado as the place "where you'll find the most creative, healthiest and happiest people in the country. Why? It's our nature. Our mountains, rivers and plains."

"It's our nature" is the tagline of the brand, symbolizing "the duality of our state—awe-inspiring scenery and life-loving people. It connects adventure with entrepreneurship, beauty with happiness and fresh air with creativity."

This awe-inspiring scenery would not be what it is without the Colorado River. The state's life-loving people would not enjoy as many adventures without the Colorado River. The state of Colorado would not be what it is – a place to enjoy nature – without the Colorado River. For Coloradans, and for all, the mighty Colorado is a river worth saving.

Raise the River is a collaborative effort among nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and community groups to raise $10 million by 2017 to restore the Delta. In less than a year, they have raised more than a $1 million, and now have a matching grant of $1 million from the Terra Foundation.

This event presented by the Raise the River Campaign, a coalition of non-profit and welcome by Mayor of Phoenix, Greg Stanton.

WHEN: Saturday, September 7, 2103 – 7pm to 10pm
WHERE: Arizona Science Center, Phoenix, Arizona
COST: $500 per person ($400 is tax deductible)
REGISTER: www.regonline.com/raisetheriver

Water policy experts convening at the annual Clyde Martz Summer Water Conference in Boulder, Colo. (Aug. 15-16), are abuzz about an unprecedented alarm in the Colorado River Basin. Amidst the driest 14 years on record in the Southwest, for the first time in history the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) will reduce the amount of water that Lake Powell releases to Lake Mead – an alarm that could be the first indication of serious water shortages ahead.

Western Resource Advocates (WRA) and Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) have prepared a fact sheet to help explain the significance of the Lake Powell release reduction. [Download the Fact Sheet here (PDF)]

“This is like the ‘check engine’ light coming on in your car—it’s a message from the Colorado River telling us that something is wrong and we need to fix it soon,” said Bart Miller, Water Program Director at Western Resource Advocates. “If we don’t take action to fix this ‘Great Depletion,’ we will face serious consequences within a matter of just a few years.”

Lake Powell and Lake Mead are the major storage reservoirs for the Colorado River, which provides clean drinking water to 36 million people and powers massive hydroelectric generators at Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam. Water levels at Lake Powell are so low that, under an agreement reached in 2007, it must restrict its release to Lake Mead (the primary reservoir for Lower Basin states) by 750,000 acre-feet – or enough water to meet the residential needs of 7.5 million people. As a result, Arizona and Nevada will likely declare first-ever water shortages by 2015.

“Water efficiency and conservation are more important than ever,” said Jennifer Pitt, Colorado River Project Director for EDF. “We must act now to implement cost-effective solutions that will sustain the lifeblood of the American West.”

The Colorado River Basin Study, a three-year effort by the Bureau of Reclamation and the seven basin states (released in Dec. 2012), sets out solutions to meet the gap between supply and demand. Top among those options are municipal and agricultural conservation, water recycling, and a water bank to increase flexibility in the river system.

“The problem isn’t drought, and a big rain storm, or a heavy winter snow season won’t fix this. What we need are fundamental changes in how we manage water in the Colorado Basin,” said Bob Irvin, president of American Rivers. “That means more water conservation and efficiency for farms and cities, and water-sharing measures like water banks to increase flexibility. This is the loudest wake-up call so far for Colorado Basin water supplies, and we hope it brings everyone together to get serious about solutions.”