July 25, 2014 02:59 PM UTC

Happy Colorado River Day

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• by: ConservationColorado

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Happy Colorado Day – yep today is the day that 93 years ago the Grand River was renamed the Colorado River. Today that river is America’s Hardest working river in the West– supplying drinking water to 36 million people, supporting 15% of the country’s agriculture and a $26 billion dollar outdoor recreation economy.

We organized an awesome Colorado River Day event in Denver today to highlight progress on water conservation and reuse and outline the work left to do to protect our rivers and our communities and meet future water needs.

The Colorado River flows through seven states and two countries. If we look basinwide, we’re in a crisis – from extreme droughts in California to dropping level of Lake Mead.Here in Colorado, we’re at a critical point as well. With the first state water plan being developed, we need new solutions and bring all the necessary stakeholders into the decision making process – from local elected to Latinos and conservationists to water providers.

One way to break from the status quo is to prioritize conservation.  Water conservation is the cheapest, fastest way for communities to meet their water needs and become more self-reliant. Proven technologies exist that will allow us to be much more efficient with our water, but implementation requires political will.

Local solutions that protect the Colorado River and benefit our community, economy and environment including empowering our youth and future generations with trips down the river and internships at provider organizations. Cutting indoor and outdoor water use and planning for our future growth in ways that connect water use and land use and curb the trend toward urban sprawl. There are solutions and there are options but it takes action. Learn more about the river and tell the Governor that we need a conservation first water plan.