The Colorado River Conservation Water District’s multi-year bid to acquire the historic Shoshone water rights on the Colorado River has required collaboration, strange bedfellows, bipartisan support and intense fellowship. While the River District wants this spirit of partnership to continue as the deal moves through Colorado Water Court, it won’t compromise values — nor those of the 17 Western Slope counties the district represents — to do so, according to General Manager Andy Mueller. … The Shoshone water rights are among the oldest non-consumptive rights on the Colorado River, dating back to 1902 and 1929. …With the 1902 Shoshone right senior to many others on the Colorado River, it gets priority over junior rights — including those on the Western Slope and many transmountain diversions that carry water to the Front Range — when flows drop below 1,480 cubic feet per second.

Other Colorado River management news:

• The Arizona Republic (Phoenix): Navajo Nation designates Colorado, Little Colorado confluence as sacred
• Lake Powell Chronicle (Miami, Ariz.): Tribal sovereignty, senior rights, and the post-2026 Colorado River framework
• Bloomberg Law: ‘Nobody’s giving an inch’ on Colo. River water: California brief
• 5280 – Denver’s Mile High Magazine: What the states squabbling over the Colorado River can learn from the San Luis Valley
• Agri-Pulse: Opinion: The Colorado River’s new reality requires more than water cuts
• American Rivers: Blog: Permanently protecting places like the Gila River would be a win for bipartisanship, the Colorado River, and all Americans