Facing a looming water crisis that could slash deliveries from the Colorado River by hundreds of millions of cubic meters, agricultural officials in Baja California are urging local farmers to pivot toward climate-resilient crops. The warning comes as the region braces for sharp reductions in its water supply. According to Alfonso Cortez Lara, director of the El Colegio de la Frontera Norte (Colef) in Mexicali, Baja California expects its annual quota from the Colorado River to be cut by 350 million cubic meters by 2027, La Voz newspaper reported. Mónica Vargas Núñez, head of Baja California’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER BC), said the state is working alongside Mexico’s federal agriculture ministry and the National Water Commission (Conagua) to mitigate the impact. 

Other Colorado River management news:

• The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction, Colo.): Grand Valley water users’ conservation efforts benefiting upstream users during historic drought
• Water & Tribes Initiative Colorado River Basin: News release: Lessons learned from the process of developing the post-2026 guidelines
• Steamboat Pilot & Today (Colo.): Opinion: Reservoir management in extreme drought
• The University of Arizona: Report: In revitalizing the Colorado River Delta, a little goes a long way
• University of Colorado, Boulder: Blog: The Colorado River water supply crisis in a few graphs
• The National Forest Foundation: Blog: Telling the story: nature-based solutions to improve the resilience of the Colorado River Basin