When white settlers forayed into what came to be known as the Imperial Valley at the dawn of the 20th century, they found a barren desert in California’s southeastern corner, unpopulated except for a few members of the Kamia clan of the Kumeyaay tribe.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2023-04-19 10:40:162023-04-19 10:52:10Opinion: Imperial Valley Nears Day of Reckoning for Use of Distressed Colorado River
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Mike Leehttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngMike Lee2023-04-18 10:09:272023-04-18 10:11:18California’s Strategy Fails as Feds Pressure States to Conserve Colorado River Water
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2023-04-17 11:17:582023-04-17 11:22:25What Might Cuts to Dwindling Colorado River Mean for States?
The federal government laid out a pair of options Tuesday to drastically cut water use along the Colorado River and keep Lake Mead and Lake Powell from crashing any further in the coming years.
One of the proposals would impose hefty cuts following a strict priority system, which would protect the California agricultural sector’s water rights while placing the heaviest burden on cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix, while the other proposal would share those reductions more proportionally across Nevada, Arizona and California.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Mike Leehttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngMike Lee2023-04-13 10:19:482023-04-13 10:26:57Water Rights: Feds Could Place Burden on Las Vegas to Protect California Farms
The Biden administration today proposed alternatives for cutting Colorado River water allocations for Southwest states, including one that would substantially reduce the amount of water delivered to Southern California.
One of the three options would retain California’s historic, century-old senior water rights, while another would override them and split the cuts in water deliveries evenly between California, Nevada and Arizona. The even-split option would be a big blow to Imperial Valley farmers while benefiting the other states.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Mike Leehttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngMike Lee2023-04-12 11:53:212023-04-12 12:24:42US Unveils Options for Cutting California’s Colorado River Water
A Native American tribe in Arizona reached a deal Thursday with the U.S. government not to use some of its Colorado River water rights in return for $150 million and funding for a pipeline project.
The $233 million pact with the Gila River Indian Community, announced in Phoenix, was hailed as an example of the kind of cooperation needed to rescue a river crucial to a massive agricultural industry and essential to more than 40 million people in seven Western U.S. states and Mexico. Officials termed it “compensated conservation.”
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2023-04-07 10:17:092023-04-07 10:20:53Tribe, US Officials Reach Deal to Save Colorado River Water
The federal government will send up to $233 million to the Gila River Indian Community for water conservation. The tribe is among the first to receive federal payouts as part of a program to incentivize water cutbacks in Arizona, California and Nevada. Those three states make up the Colorado River’s Lower Basin, where water use remains steady in spite of shrinking reserves.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Andrea Morahttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngAndrea Mora2023-04-07 10:12:112023-04-07 10:22:52Arizona Tribe Will Receive Millions in Federal Payouts for Water Conservation
Nevada gets less than a 2 percent cut from the Colorado River’s waters, but the state actually uses far more water than that each year, all while staying well within its century-old legal water rights.
It’s all thanks to an extensive water recycling program in the Las Vegas Valley and something called “return flow credits,” which allow the state to pull extra water out of Lake Mead for every gallon of wastewater treated and returned to the reservoir via the Las Vegas Wash.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Mike Leehttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngMike Lee2023-04-04 09:34:212023-04-04 09:42:11How Nevada Uses More Than Its Tiny Share of the Colorado River Each Year
Drought and population growth have taken their toll on the Colorado River, pushing it to historic lows.
As we work together with our neighboring states and the federal government on a long-term solution, many eyes are focused on the Imperial Valley, because of its senior water rights. And as much as we believe in upholding the rule of law, we are equally committed to being responsible water users and doing our part to keep the river healthy enough to meet the needs of all seven states.
(Editor’s Note: Stephen Benson is a farmer in California’s Imperial Valley, a board member of Imperial Valley Water (IVH2O), former board member of the Imperial Irrigation District and a current board member of the Family Farm Alliance and Imperial Valley Vegetable Growers Association. He can be reached at
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Mike Leehttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngMike Lee2023-02-27 10:27:592023-02-27 10:55:44Opinion: Imperial Valley Takes its Colorado River Senior Water Rights Seriously
With its haunting rock spires and salt-crusted shores, Mono Lake is a Hollywood vision of the apocalypse. To the city of Los Angeles, however, this Eastern Sierra basin represents the very source of L.A.’s prosperity — the right to free water.
For decades, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has relied on long-standing water rights to divert from the streams that feed this ancient lake as part of the city’s far-flung water empire. But in the face of global warming, drought and lawsuits from environmentalists, the DWP is now facing the previously unthinkable prospect of ending its diversions there.
https://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.png00Mike Leehttps://wnn.brainshine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/WNN-Horizontal-White-Blue2.pngMike Lee2023-02-21 10:12:022023-02-21 12:12:38L.A.’s New Water War: Keeping Supply From Mono Lake Flowing as Critics Want It Cut Off