The coalition—comprising the National Audubon Society, American Rivers, Environmental Defense Fund, Western Resource Advocates, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership—has collectively submitted the plan titled “Cooperative Conservation Alternative” to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). This proposal is not just an alternative to the competing plans offered by the Colorado River Basin states, but a collaborative effort to shape the river’s future, the groups said.
In March, the Upper Basin states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) and the Lower Basin states (Arizona, California and Nevada) submitted competing plans to BOR for managing the river and water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
The coalition said their alternative broadens the scope of options for BOR to evaluate and ensures that water resources support human needs and ecosystem health across the Colorado River Basin.
“Cooperative Conservation is a proposal to manage the Colorado River for multiple benefits— not just to deal with shortages—but also to maintain habitat for birds and wildlife, potentially allow Tribes to benefit from their water rights, and improve water supply reliability as climate change impacts continue to reduce the river,” Jennifer Pitt, National Audubon Society’s Colorado River program director, said in a statement. “This is the kind of innovation we need to create certainty for the Colorado River for everyone and everything that depends on it.”
The alternative emphasizes the following approaches:
• Stabilize system storage and avoid crisis management.
• Target reservoir management to integrate stewardship and mitigation in storage and release operations.
• Maintain opportunities for Colorado River Delta flows.
• Incentivize flexible tools and water management.
The plan proposes continuous rule curves for baseline releases from Lake Powell and Lake Mead and considering the available live storage at various system reservoirs, including the Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming, the Blue Mesa Reservoir in Colorado, the Navajo Reservoir in New Mexico and Lake Havasu in Arizona.
The rule curves for Lake Powell would reflect the available Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) initial unit storage to account for upstream facilities’ impact while separating the influence of Lower Basin conditions on Upper Basin operations. Similarly, rule curves for Lake Mead would be based on the available whole system storage, which informs water availability for downstream users.
The plan also considers integrating a near-term climate response trend as a proactive measure to anticipate the impacts of climate trends on future system storage in the Colorado River Basin. This involves applying observed trends over baseline storage/release curves to anticipate a potential loss in net storage of CRSP initial units and whole system storage based on recent hydrology trends.
The coalition also suggests stewardship of the Grand Canyon, which serves as a link between Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The plan calls for timed water releases to support fish habitats, recreation opportunities, diverse biological communities and cultural resources.
The plan introduces a “Conservation Reserve” tool as a replacement for the current Lower Basin Intentionally Created Surplus program. This approach aims to incentivize substantial water conservation efforts while providing flexibility in annual water usage, the coalition said. The effectiveness of the Conservation Reserve tool hinges on incentivizing water users to conserve water that can be stored and delivered as required without disrupting regular reservoir operations.
The coalition said that the guidelines alone cannot comprehensively address the basin’s long-term challenges; additional measures are necessary across various sectors throughout the basin to enhance resilience in the face of increasing aridity and variability. These measures include protecting and restoring critical ecosystems, empowering basin Tribes to utilize water rights flexibly, adapting agricultural practices, promoting urban and industrial water conservation, fostering innovative water management approaches, and implementing other necessary improvements, the coalition said.
The environmental groups are urging BOR to advance the proposal through the National Environmental Policy Act process and evaluate its effects on the basin’s natural, socio-economic and cultural resources.
“The Cooperative Conservation Alternative sets out a holistic approach to move beyond managing for immediate challenges, such as the existing hydrologic imbalance and declining water supplies, while also acknowledging the need to ensure new operational guidelines integrate opportunities for the stewardship of fish and wildlife and enhancing the overall resilience of the basin to climate change for both present and future generations,” said Alexander Funk, director of water resources at Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, in a statement. — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
