By Jim Trotter | Rocky Mountain PBS
Denver Water will join with Central Arizona Project, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and Southern Nevada Water Authority and Reclamation to put forward some $11 million to fund new Colorado River water conservation projects.
The proposals being solicited are intended to demonstrate the viability of cooperative, voluntary efforts to reduce demand for Colorado River water, which seven states and Mexico share. The Southwest is the nation’s hottest and driest region, where population growth and warming pose continuing threats to water supplies.
Ongoing drought has squeezed the Colorado since 2000, shrinking water levels in major reservoirs. In July, reservoir levels in Lake Mead near Las Vegas dipped to the lowest level since iconic Hoover Dam began filling in the 1930s.
