Wyoming has shelved a state-funded project to measure water use in the Green River and Little Snake River basins after it could not get enough data to create a basin-wide estimate of water lost during irrigation. At a meeting in the Cowboy State capitol of Cheyenne last month, members of the Wyoming Water Development Commission (WWDC) reported that difficulty gaining access to landowners’ ditches coupled with unexpected costs prevented the contractor from securing access to all 20 irrigation ditches the company planned to survey. … Wyoming water managers said the measuring efforts could one day resume as part of a coordinated effort with Colorado, New Mexico and Utah to gauge water consumption in each state’s portion of the Upper Colorado River Basin, which includes the Green and Little Snake rivers in Wyoming.

Other Colorado River management news:

• National Geographic: As Lake Powell dries up, mud threatens its future
• Daily Independent (Sun City, Ariz.): Glendale likely to avoid harsh CAP water supply cuts, for now
• PBS News Hour: Video: Monitoring the Midterms: Water access major issue in Western states
• Virginia Tech: Study: Colorado River drought drives unprecedented pattern of groundwater loss
• The Nevada Independent: Opinion: Nevada is right to sue over its newly curbed Colorado River allocation