Here are some helpful online resources for learning more about the Colorado River Basin.
On this page:
1922 Colorado River Compact
The 1922 Colorado River Compact is just four pages, but this critical document sets the river’s total supply at 15 million acre feet per year, defines the states that make up the upper and lower basins, allocates 7.5 million acre feet per basin annually, and introduces the legal framework for Mexico’s future allotment.
1922 Colorado River Compact Meeting Transcripts
To finalize the 1922 compact, it took Herbert Hoover, then the Secretary of Commerce, and representatives from each of the seven basin states, 27 different meetings, spanning four different cities and 11 months. This series of documents provides a transcript for those discussions as well as other interesting anecdotes related to the deliberations that culminated in the final agreement.
The Fourth National Climate Assessment report on the Southwest
Since 2000, the federal government has released an interagency report quantifying the effects of climate change on humans and the environment. This chapter of the fourth edition of the report, released in November 2018, focuses specifically on the U.S. Southwest and discusses impacts on water resources.
Colorado River Water Users Association
CRWUA describes itself as “a non-profit, non-partisan organization providing a forum for exchanging ideas and perspectives on Colorado River use and management with the intent of developing and advocating common objectives, initiatives and solutions.” The group offers a timeline summarizing the Law of the River and runs an annual conference on the Colorado River.
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation: Upper and Lower Colorado River Basin Water Resources Pages
The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation is the primary federal agency responsible for managing water infrastructure along the Colorado River. Reclamation’s website provides historical information, contact lists, photography databases and other resources. These sites are also the official source for water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the biggest reservoirs along the Colorado River.
U.S. Department of Interior: Colorado River Basin Drought Page
This site offers an overview of the Colorado River and explores the ongoing drought in the region. The project, which was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Reclamation in support of the Department of the Interior’s Open Water Data Initiative, offers a variety of data visualizations, imagery and other tools for understanding drought’s effects on the river.
Colorado River Science Wiki
This site is a web-based clearinghouse for scientific and technical information relevant to the Colorado River Basin and the management of its water resources and related natural resources.
Colorado Water History and the 1922 Compact
Colorado State University offers a history of Colorado water and resources on the 1922 Colorado River Compact.
Academic organizations
There are a number of university-based programs and projects that focus on water issues and the Colorado River Basin:
- Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University
- California Institute for Water Resources at the University of California
- Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University
- Center for Water, Earth Science and Technology at the University of Colorado Boulder
- Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California Davis
- Colorado River Research Group
- Colorado Water Institute at Colorado State University
- Colorado Water Center at Colorado State University
- Columbia Water Center
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder
- Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment at the University of Colorado Boulder
- Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University
- Ruth Powell Hutchins Water Center at Colorado Mesa University
- UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
- UC Water Security Security and Sustainability Research Initiative at the University of California
- Water in the West at Stanford University
- Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico
- Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona
- Western Water Assessment at the University of Colorado Boulder
- Western Water Policy Program at the University of Colorado Boulder
Do you know of other resources on the web that would be helpful for water journalists and others? Please contact us so we can consider including them on this page.