When the feds stroll in and drop the hammer on Upper and Lower Basin Colorado River State negotiators who can’t agree on what to do about the river’s precarious plumbing…
What should we expect?
Current water management rules expire in October 2026. The Bureau of Reclamation seems to be signaling a preliminary ten-year plan, hardly the framework for a long-term strategy. Hardly the tough medicine required.
But nothing’s in place yet. This is floating an idea to see how it plays, and hopefully, it doesn’t play well.
Seven squabbling states thirsty for drastically diminishing allocations of Colorado River water have been meeting to no avail. The irony is tough to miss. Independent westerners, resentful of Washington’s interference in any issue unless it sends a check with no strings attached, are dug in so deep compromise hasn’t been achieved.
Our western states are more or less inviting the feds to waltz in with an answer. So much for the Sagebrush Rebellion.
When Washington rides into town and lays out a mandate, we hope for informed leadership. When it comes to the Colorado River, we look for actions driven by science, not ideology, not political agendas. Not a bought and paid for lobbyist’s dream.
Discomfort and skepticism feel justified. More than 400 scientists working on National Climate Assessment projects have already been fired. We can’t help but wonder if we have the information required to make sound decisions?
Were these scientists essential or a layer of the bureaucracy we don’t really need? When they were shown to the door, did ideas on how best to address the Colorado River crisis walk out with them?
Hopefully not.
We still have informed and objective voices to guide our Colorado River decisions. Crane Johnson and Alaina MacFarlane are senior hydrologists at NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) River Forecast Centers. Gerolamo Casile is a Senior Science Advisor for the USGS Water Resources Mission Area.
Fortunately, the misguided gutting of science has not entirely stripped the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of technical specialists and hydraulic engineers.
And we hope these voices are being heard.
It is tempting to think that during times such as these we need our scientists more than ever. But there are always times such as these. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.
And things along the Colorado River don’t look good, even to the ideologue’s eye.
When the feds drop the hammer because Upper and Lower Basin Colorado River State negotiators have failed to do their job, the hammer needs to be swung with the focused force of informed science, not with the wild hunches and haphazard hopes of the ill-informed.
Not with lobbyists’ picks.
The Bureau of Reclamation needs to put in place long-term solutions, not stopgap measures driven by groundless hopes. There is little to suggest peace is about to break out among the seven squabbling western states.
And the BLM needs to do something bureaucrats and politicians have been unable to do for decades.
Demonstrate thoughtful leadership.
