COLORADO NEWSLINE: Need for long-term solutions to Colorado River crisis has never been more urgent

As business leaders, we represent hundreds of companies and thousands of jobs that rely on stable management of this crucial resource

Our nation has reached a critical inflection point. We can no longer ignore the alarming reality that we are using more water than the Colorado River reliably provides. Major reservoirs such as Lake Mead and Lake Powell sit at roughly one-third full and under historic stress.

Operating guidelines that manage the delivery of the River’s water — and therefore, the stability of its $3.8 trillion economy – are expiring. As our nation endures extreme levels of hydrology, droughts, and aridity — far worse than the River’s current operational framework predicted – the need for long-term solutions to this crisis has never been more urgent.

As business leaders from Arizona and Colorado, we represent hundreds of companies and thousands of jobs that rely on a stable and well-managed Colorado River. We recognize the monumental challenge of updating the rules that govern how this water is allocated and delivered to farms, businesses, and communities across seven states and Mexico.

From a business perspective, the implications couldn’t be more acute. Water supply uncertainty threatens agriculture, manufacturing, power generation, municipal planning, and recreation economies. Investors require reliable resource baselines to commit, expand and add jobs. When the risk of systemic failure hovers, projects get deferred, jobs aren’t created, and economies falter.

We believe this is the moment to lead with innovation, collaboration and best-in-class planning to guide long-term and sustainable management of the Colorado River. Cooperation and long-term planning provide the certainty businesses depend on and lead to decisions that sustain investment and economic development for rural and urban communities alike.

The next set of guidelines will direct operations for the Colorado River after 2026. Reaching agreement on these guidelines isn’t some arcane bureaucratic exercise; it will set the foundation for sustained economic development and prosperity for millions of people, tens of thousands of businesses, and countless jobs. Our region’s economic future relies on a cooperatively managed river system that can effectively and reliably support communities and industry for decades to come.

When states and Tribal nations collaborate on long term-river management, they send a clear signal to investors and employers: the Basin’s water supplies are managed cooperatively, given its unstable hydrologic future, providing more predictability. That message matters. It matters for mountain communities and desert cities, for farmers and factories, and for recreation economies and high-tech hubs.

We’re grateful for the efforts of our state and Tribal leaders as they work toward durable solutions, and we see this moment in the river’s history as pivotal to our collective ability to prosper.

Let’s commit to a shared, pragmatic, forward-looking framework. We are all in this together.