What a multi-million dollar price tag for Colorado River water says about the West’s unquenchable thirst

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What a multi-million dollar price tag for Colorado River water says about the West’s unquenchable thirst

Date: 02/14/2024     Category: News & Media     Author: Alex Hager, In the NoCo     Publication: KUNC    

Original Post ➡️

The Colorado River flows through the Shoshone diversion structure on Jan. 29, 2024. The diversion structure routes river water into the hydropower plant. Alex Hager/KUNC / EcoFlight

In Colorado, the water that comes from our taps and keeps our fields growing can be in limited supply. That means heated debates over water – who gets to use it and how money should be spent to keep it flowing – are constant. That is evident right now, after a Colorado water agency announced plans to buy nearly $100 million of water from the Colorado River, even without plans to change how that water is used.

“The purchase represents the culmination of a decades-long effort to keep Shoshone’s water on the west side of Colorado’s mountains, settling the region’s long-held anxieties over competition with the water needs of the Front Range, where fast-growing cities and suburbs around Denver need more water to keep pace with development,” explained KUNC reporter Alex Hager.

He joined In The NoCo host Erin O’Toole to tell us more.