Colorado River water users want to collaborate on conservation — but they need updated infrastructure to make it happen
… Throughout the West, pretty much every last drop of Colorado River is used and accounted for. The majority of Colorado’s allotment of the river is used for agriculture. Human-caused climate change is stretching the river even thinner, and drought persists. That means that the people who rely on the river have to get creative when it comes to conservation, especially in Colorado, where the river begins. … It’s all part of Colorado’s complex water law system, which states that water released from reservoirs must be put to a “beneficial use.” That usually means using it for things like irrigation or industry. The environment, and even fish, historically haven’t counted. But there’s a workaround: hydropower. It keeps the water in the river, and under state law, it qualifies as beneficial.