Pathways and Barriers to Corporate Water Stewardship in the Colorado River Basin

Pacific Institute | October 24th, 2023

The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the American West. It supports 30 Native American tribes and farms, cities, and ecosystems in seven US states—Arizona, California

The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the American West. It supports 30 Native American tribes and farms, cities, and ecosystems in seven US states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming—and the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora. However, the river is in crisis. Twenty-three years of drought, the over-allocation of water, and climate change have exacerbated a structural deficit—where more water leaves the system than enters it—for the tribes, communities, and ecosystems that depend on the Colorado River. To advance water resilience in the Colorado River Basin (Basin), accelerated action and investment are required from all sectors. These efforts must be strategic, coordinated, and amplified to effectively tackle the Basin’s challenges. Corporations can play a key role through their operations and supply chains, and by co-funding innovative projects. While a subset of leading companies is engaging in corporate water stewardship (CWS) in the Basin, more is needed to meet the magnitude of the water crisis at hand. This report outlines barriers and pathways to CWS in the Basin based on 20 interviews with corporate and non-corporate stakeholders from February to April 2022, and interviewee feedback on the results. The report is part of a broader Pacific Institute effort to advance CWS in the Basin. We are using these findings to prioritize CWS projects, initiatives, and approaches to pilot and scale in the Basin. More broadly, the findings are applicable to moving CWS toward building long-term water resilience in the Basin and other water-stressed basins around the world.

Piloting a Water Rights Information System for California

Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment (CLEE) | July 15th, 2021

California’s complex water management challenges are growing and intensifying. Systemic stressors like the more frequent and severe droughts and floods driven by climat

California’s complex water management challenges are growing and intensifying. Systemic stressors like the more frequent and severe droughts and floods driven by climate change are only making it harder to respond. Accordingly, California needs to dramatically improve the ability of local, regional, and State entities to make agile and effective water management decisions. We believe doing so will require enhanced understanding of our water resources and how they align with the needs of a range of agencies and stakeholders. Water rights data provide a crucial opportunity for advancing this understanding. We find that modernizing water rights data is feasible, affordable, and can increase transparency and clarity for better decision-making.

Recent California Water Transfers: Implications for Water Management

Natural Resources Journal (University of New Mexico) | January 3rd, 1995

The 1991 and 1992 California Drought Emergency Water Banks were the first large water transfer programs in the nation in which the state served as the predominant broke

The 1991 and 1992 California Drought Emergency Water Banks were the first large water transfer programs in the nation in which the state served as the predominant broker for water trades. Although the state-sponsored Water Banks have drawn widespread attention, there have been a great number of water transfers and exchanges taking place in California independently of the state. These transfers illustrate well the widespread applicability of transfers in managing water resource systems, as well as the multiple mechanisms available for effecting water transfers. This article focuses on California's recent experiences with water transfers, and offers a series of potential lessons for federal, state, and local managers for integrating water transfers in regional water resource systems.

Rethinking Old Rights

Social Science Research Network (SSRN) | November 1st, 2023

Review of the Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | December 18th, 2020

Spurred by an ongoing multi-year drought, decreasing system storage, and growing demands for Colorado River Water, in December 2007, Secretary of the Interior (Se

Spurred by an ongoing multi-year drought, decreasing system storage, and growing demands for Colorado River Water, in December 2007, Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) Kempthorne approved the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead (Guidelines) (U.S. Department of the Interior [Department], 2007). The Guidelines, which are anticipated to be in place for an interim period through 2026, provide operating criteria for Lake Powell and Lake Mead including provisions designed to provide a greater degree of certainty to water users about timing and volumes of potential water delivery reductions, and additional operating flexibility to conserve and store water in the system. The interim nature of the Guidelines provided the opportunity to gain valuable experience for the management of Lake Powell and Lake Mead under modified operations and improve the basis for making future operational decisions, whether during the interim period or after. The requirement to document this experience is set forth in Section XI.G.7.D. of the ROD: “Beginning no later than December 31, 2020, the Secretary shall initiate a formal review for purposes of evaluating the effectiveness of these Guidelines. The Secretary shall consult with the Basin States in initiating this review” (7.D. Review). In December 2019, Secretary Bernhardt directed the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) to begin a review of the Guidelines in early 2020. This Report is the culmination of that process. This Report documents Reclamation’s operational experience and provides a retrospective evaluation of whether operations and actions specified by the Guidelines have adhered to common themes and been effective with respect to the purpose stated in the ROD. The results of this evaluation are not intended to imply correctness of any particular operational provision or recommend future policies or actions. Reclamation anticipates that this Report will be a valuable source of information during upcoming activities in support of post-2026 operations – but expects this Report to be only one of many sources of information that will be available to guide that process and inform upcoming decisions on operations. Reclamation recognizes there are other areas of interest beyond the scope of this Report that should be considered in future discussions. These topics include but are not limited to the impacts to environmental, recreational, hydropower, and water quality resources, how to meaningfully engage perspectives from a diverse group of partners and stakeholders, and other recommendations from tribes, states and other stakeholders. Reclamation anticipates that additional studies and activities will be undertaken and used to inform discussions related to future operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Click here for Final Report, Appendix A – Operational Documentation for Lake Powell and Lake Mead Operations Under the Colorado River 2007 Interim Guidelines Years 2008 to 2019

Royce Tipton and the Hydrology of the 1944 Treaty with Mexico

John Fleck | May 26th, 2025

Science be Dammed: How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained the Colorado River

University of Arizona Press | November 26th, 2019

Science Be Dammed is an alarming reminder of the high stakes in the management—and perils in the mismanagement—of water in the western United States.  It seems decep

Science Be Dammed is an alarming reminder of the high stakes in the management—and perils in the mismanagement—of water in the western United States.  It seems deceptively simple: even when clear evidence was available that the Colorado River could not sustain ambitious dreaming and planning by decision-makers throughout the twentieth century, river planners and political operatives irresponsibly made the least sustainable and most dangerous long-term decisions. Arguing that the science of the early twentieth century can shed new light on the mistakes at the heart of the over-allocation of the Colorado River, authors Eric Kuhn and John Fleck delve into rarely reported early studies, showing that scientists warned as early as the 1920s that there was not enough water for the farms and cities boosters wanted to build. Contrary to a common myth that the authors of the Colorado River Compact did the best they could with limited information, Kuhn and Fleck show that development boosters selectively chose the information needed to support their dreams, ignoring inconvenient science that suggested a more cautious approach. Today water managers are struggling to come to terms with the mistakes of the past. Focused on both science and policy, Kuhn and Fleck unravel the tangled web that has constructed the current crisis. With key decisions being made now, including negotiations for rules governing how the Colorado River water will be used after 2026, Science Be Dammed offers a clear-eyed path forward by looking back. Understanding how mistakes were made is crucial to understanding our contemporary problems. Science Be Dammed offers important lessons in the age of climate change about the necessity of seeking out the best science to support the decisions we make.

Scoping Report for Post-2026 Colorado River Reservoir Operations Upper and Lower Colorado Basin Regions

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) | October 19th, 2023

This scoping summary was prepared to document the scoping process for the Post-2026 Colorado River Reservoir Operations (Post-2026 process). As several important reservoi

This scoping summary was prepared to document the scoping process for the Post-2026 Colorado River Reservoir Operations (Post-2026 process). As several important reservoir and water management decisional documents and agreements that govern operation of Colorado River facilities and management of Colorado River water are scheduled to expire at the end of 2026, the Post-2026 process has been initiated to develop successor domestic Colorado River operational guidelines and strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

Scott River Ajudication Decree

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | January 30th, 1980

The water rights set forth in this decree consist of (1) all surface water rights in the Scott River stream system, as defined in paragraph 2, excluding springs or standi

The water rights set forth in this decree consist of (1) all surface water rights in the Scott River stream system, as defined in paragraph 2, excluding springs or standing pools not specifically included in this decree which do not contribute to a flowing stream or have no natural outlet, and excluding water which naturally sustains mountain meadows and other native vegetation without artificial diversion from a flowing stream; (2) all rights to supporting underflow and (3) all rights to ground water that i s interconnected with tlie Scott River as delineated on the State Water Resources Control Board map, hereinafter referred to as the SWRCB map, and as defined in Paragraph 4.

Severe sustained drought revisited managing the Colorado River system in times of water shortage 25 years later—Part II

American Water Resources Association (AWRA) | December 4th, 2022