Redford, Vegas, L.A.! — Save The Colorado River!

Hello Friends of the Colorado River!

Great news!  Last weekend we helped officially launch the “Raise The River” campaign in Phoenix along with a great bunch of friends and dignitaries. Led by Robert Redford and the Redford Center, the campaign to raise money to buy water to let the Colorado River again flow to the sea got off to a great start.  250 people attended including Asst. Secretary of Interior Anne Castle, the Mayor of Phoenix Greg Stanton, Mexican Commissioner Roberto Salmon-Castelo, and Robert Redford and his son James.

Several environmental organizations were also present including the Sonoran Institute which is hosting the “Colorado River Delta Water Trust” which will handle the finances and water purchases for the campaign.  Raise The River — which you can learn more about here — is planning a bunch of fun and lively fundraising activities in the near future, so stay tuned for how you can get involved and make a difference.  News articles about the event are here and here, with a HuffPo blog here.

More Chaos in Vegas!  A few weeks ago, Las Vegas declared that they needed “Federal Disaster Aid” to address the drought and climate change impacting Lake Mead.  Now, they’ve decided it’s an “emergency” and they are authorizing a new $12 million tunnel to be dug to connect their intake pipes draining water out of Lake Mead.  See the newspaper story here. Pat Mulroy, pictured to the left, is the Director of Vegas’ Southern Nevada Water Authority.  Ms. Mulroy is known for making bold media-grabbing statements in her pursuit of water supplies for Las Vegas.

Will the federal government give Vegas disaster aid?  Will Vegas get their pipeline built in time?  Will Lake Mead continue to shrink and shrink?  Inquiring readers want to know the answers to these questions.  However it turns out, Las Vegas seems to be at the fulcrum of Colorado River chaos and what happens in Vegas no longer stays in Vegas.  Stay tuned for more news alerts about this impending emergency.

Good news from Southern California!  This week, several water managers in Los Angeles and the Southern California region signed a historic agreement to use recycled water and wean themselves off of imported water from the Colorado River.  The recycled water will be used to replenish groundwater supplies in Southern California. You can read about the agreement here.

Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, from Southern California, said, “Both the Water Replenishment Districts and the County Sanitation Districts have been at the forefront of the recycled water industry which benefits our whole basin to recharge clean water into our aquifer, and they will continue to serve as we encounter warmer climate and drought cycles.  They are an integral component in the water supply and management portfolio for our Southern California area, state and our nation.”  As we discussed in a blog a few weeks ago, much opportunity exists for Southern California to further recycle water and protect its beaches in so doing.  Keep an eye on Southern California for how the entire Southwest U.S. should move forward with water supply challenges.

Stay tuned for more updates!