Colorado River managers [last week] decided to continue a water conservation program designed to protect critical elevations in the nation’s two largest reservoirs. The Upper Colorado River Commission decided unanimously to continue the federally funded System Conservation Program in 2024 — but with a narrower scope that explores demand management concepts and supports innovation and local drought resiliency on a longer-term basis. … The System Conservation Program is paying water users in the four upper basin states — Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah — to voluntarily cut back with $125 million from the Inflation Reduction Act. According to Upper Colorado River Commission officials, nearly $16.1 million was spent on system conservation in 2023. 

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• Telluride Daily Planet: Western states vote to narrow focus of Colorado River program