… This year, Ruby Ranch enrolled two alfalfa fields in Utah’s Demand Management Program, which pays Colorado River water users to temporarily and voluntarily send water downstream. … Utah is betting that voluntary conservation like this can help protect the state as the Colorado River shrinks and the seven states that depend on it fight over who should use less. … With no deal reached, the Bureau of Reclamation moved forward with a plan that requires the Lower Basin to conserve 1.25 million acre-feet of water next year, with steeper cuts possible in the future. The plan includes no mandatory cuts in the Upper Basin, just a goal to conserve 200,000 acre-feet per year. … New Mexico has a Strategic Water Reserve Program, which includes leasing 20,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Jicarilla Apache Nation. Wyoming created a program similar to Utah’s earlier this year, and Colorado just approved a near-term water contribution program in mid-September.

Other Colorado River management news:

• Daily Independent (Miami, Ariz.): Scottsdale’s plan to put APRW in CAP canal a no go
• CBS Colorado: New water-saving rules adopted by Aurora City Council
• KTAR (Phoenix): Amazon launches collaborative initiative to fund Colorado River Basin water projects
• Colorado Politics (Denver): Opinion: Colorado’s water economy demands urgent structural overhaul
• The Land Desk: Blog: Data dump: Western hay and alfalfa exports