Wishing Up A River

Thirst Gap: Learning to Live with Less on the Colorado River

The Colorado River’s current crisis traces its roots back to 1922. That’s when leaders from the rapidly-growing southwestern states that rely on the river traveled to a swanky Santa Fe mountain retreat to divvy up the river’s water. Growing populations in some of the West’s burgeoning cities and sprawling farmlands, and the anxieties tied to that growth, pushed leaders to the negotiating table. The Colorado River Compact was the result of those talks. This attempt to manage the dynamic river system was fraught from the very beginning. To get a deal passed the men overestimated the river’s flow, and ignored warnings from scientists they were setting the stage for a sprawling plumbing system bound to be short on water. Today we’re still grappling with the decisions made during those negotiations. This episode features an interview with Eric Kuhn, former Colorado River District general manager, and co-author of Science Be Dammed, How Ignoring Inconvenient Science Drained The Colorado River.