fallowing and advanced agricultural and municipal water conservation. Te funders – Denver Water, South-


ern Nevada Water Authority, Central Arizona Project, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) and Reclamation – have together com- mitted more than $1 million to continue the program in 2017. “Te idea is if it really proves out


well then we would look at maybe trying to get some federal funding out of Congress and expand it,” said Jeff Kightlinger, MWD’s general manager. Te pilot program “has been incred- ibly successful, more than I would have imagined,” Wolff said. “We’ve got a lot of people interested and involved.” Accounting for Upper Basin water


conservation measures that benefit Lake Powell “is a much more complicated thing in the Upper Basin because when you are in the Lower Basin and decide to conserve they just don’t release that water from Mead,” Ostler said. “In the Upper Basin that’s not the case. You can conserve the water but it flows past other water users. People have the right to take water under a high priority [water] right and how we ensure it gets to Powell is a big question.”


Meeting Future Water Needs


Practicality dictates that the Upper Basin states must consider the possibility that they may not be able to access the full share of Colorado River allocated to them under the Compact. “Unless we accept some very high risk


levels of shortage, curtailment and power pool problems, or unless we can provide substantial additional storage, it’s not available on a regular basis,” Ostler said. He acknowledged there are different ideas of risk and water supply. “You find those who say we are overusing already and there’s not any more left to people who would say you can use up to the Compact amount,” he said. Trough efforts such as the Colorado Water Plan and the Upper Basin


Continued on page 11 Winter 2016-2017 • River Report • Colorado River Project • 9


January


25-27 CWC 2017Annual Convention, sponsored by Colorado Water Congress, Denver, CO • http://www.cowatercongress.org/annual-convention.html


February 7-9 Tamarisk Coalition’s 14th


Annual Conference, Fort Collins, CO http://www.tamariskcoalition.org/events/2017-tc-conference


9-10 Tribal Water in Arizona, sponsored by Law Seminars International Phoenix, AZ • http://www.lawseminars.com/seminars/2017/17TRIBWAZ.php


9-10 Western Water Law, sponsored by CLE International, San Diego, CA http://www.cle.com/product.php?proid=1622&src=Featured&page= Western_Water_Law


23-24 2017 Land & Water Summit, sponsored by Xeriscape Council of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM http://www.xeriscapenm.com/conference/conference-registration


22-24 Family Farm Alliance 2017 Annual Meeting and Conference Las Vegas, NV • http://www.familyfarmalliance.org


March


2-3 Annual Salinity Conference, Multi-State Salinity Coalition (MSCC) Las Vegas, NV • http://multi-statesalinitycoalition.com/events


16-17 Wyoming Water & Energy Law, sponsored by CLE International Cheyenne, WY • http://www.cle.com/productphp?proid=1630&page= Wyoming_ Water_%26_Energy_Law


23 Water Education Foundation’s Annual Executive Briefing, Sacramento, CA, http://www.watereducation.org/foundation-event/2017-executive-briefing


28 Water Resources Research Center Conference, Tucson, AZ https://wrrc.arizona.edu/events/conference/wrrc-conference-2017-irrigated- agriculture-arizona-fresh-perspective


28-29 35th April


5-7 Water Education Foundation’s Lower Colorado River Tour, Las Vegas, NV http://www.watereducation.org/tour/lower-colorado-river-tour-2017


Contact Sue McClurg with your calendar items from July 2017 through December 2017 for inclusion in the Summer issue of River Report, smcclurg@watereducation.org 1401 21st


Street, Suite 200, Sacramento, CA 95811 Annual Water Law Conference, American Bar Association


Hollywood, CA • http://shop.americanbar.org/ebus/ABAEventsCalendar/ EventDetails.aspx?productId=258007827&sc_cid=NR17031-C4


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