July 22: The 20,000-Foot-View

A River Runs Through It: The 20,000-foot View of the Upper Colorado River Basin

The poster child of an over-allocated resource, the Colorado passes through seven states and offers sustenance on many fronts: water for more than 30 million people and a significant portion of our nation's food supply; home to a handful of endangered fish and wildlife species; the basis of a $26 billion recreational economy. And yet, demand for water so outstrips supply that the river runs dry more than 100 miles before it reaches the coast. The group heard about the past, present and future of this embattled river, from Brad Udall, senior water and climate research Scholar at the Colorado Water Institute at Colorado State University; Jennifer Pitt, the Colorado River project director at the Audubon Society; and Doug Kenney, senior research associate at the  Getches-Wilkinson Natural Resources Law Center at the University of Colorado.