The state water board has given the green light to a one-year, state-run water conservation program. On Wednesday, the Colorado Water Conservation Board unanimously approved the application review process and criteria for what state officials are calling Colorado’s near-term contribution program for 2027. … The contribution program aims to use $100 million in funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to pay water users in the Upper [Colorado River] Basin states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) to voluntarily cut back. … The approval comes at a pivotal moment, as the federal government has taken over operations for the Colorado River and the nation’s biggest reservoirs after the seven states that share the river failed to find agreement after years of negotiations.

Other Colorado River management news:

• Las Vegas Review-Journal: Southern Nevada business groups ask Congress for $2B for water crisis