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Colorado River Update: We’re Keeping the Pressure on Denver Water with our Lawsuit!

Hi Friends of the Colorado River,

As the chaos swirls and foments around the management of the Colorado River, we’re keeping our eye on the ball of our main program, “No New Dams and Diversions”. As we’ve said a hundred times, it’s insane to building more dams and diversions while the Colorado River is collapsing, but that’s exactly what Denver Water is doing with its massive dam construction project in Boulder County, Colorado. In response, we’ve refiled our lawsuit in federal district in Denver, and we’re taking it to the wall against Denver Water.

People might ask, “Why continue to sue Denver Water if they’re already building the project?” The answers are simple:

First, Denver Water doesn’t need the water. In fact, in the Colorado Sun just last week, Denver Water gloated that their water use was extremely low and people were using less water than ever. The Colorado Sun reported, “Greg Fisher, manager of demand planning at Denver Water, said that per-person water use has been declining for years, and total water use in the utility’s service area is around the same level it was at in the early 1970s.”  Because Denver Water doesn’t need the water, we have a chance to win in court and we will continue fighting to achieve it.

Second, continuing to fight Denver Water in court sends a loud and clear message to all the dam builders in the Colorado River basin that we will not give up. In fact, nearly 20 new dams, diversions, and pipelines are proposed to be built — with a few of those in permitting right now — and our relentless fight against Denver Water lets everyone know that we won’t give up.

Third, the management and water supply of the Colorado River is collapsing and anything could happen. Will the federal government shut down Denver Water’s project? It seems very unlikely, but no one knows. The Washington Post just reported yesterday on the Colorado River chaos quoting climate scientist Brad Udall who said, “We’re seeing a collision right now between 19th century water law, 20th century infrastructure and 21st century population and climate change. And how this works out is anybody’s guess.”

The Boulder Weekly quotes us speaking truth to power across Colorado and the Southwest U.S., and we will continue our relentless fight to stop the insanity of building more dams on a collapsing river system that already has too many dams causing the exact crisis and the collapse.

Thank you for your support. It keeps us working hard!

You can donate online by clicking here.

 

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