Our Work in Water
Water Program Mission:
The Water Program protects key aquatic and riparian habitats and promotes sustainable water policies in the Interior West. We’re unique because of our dual approach: (1) we work to protect and restore specific ecosystems on critical river stretches and across entire river basins and (2) we research, develop, and advocate for management policies that promote the efficient use of municipal water supplies.
As Wallace Stegner observed, the West is a region defined by the absence of water. The scarcity of this essential resource makes its intelligent use critical to a sustainable future. WRA’s Water Program has four areas of activity—conserving urban water supplies, restoring rivers throughout the West, protecting Utah’s Great Salt Lake, and encouraging the use of energy resources—such as wind and solar power—that have little or no impact on water resources.
Energy/Water Nexus
Energy and water are inextricably linked—water and wastewater utilities use energy to pump, treat, and distribute potable water supplies, and customers use energy to heat or cool water. Similarly, power plants can consume tremendous amounts of water to generate electricity. Western utilities face the growing challenge of meeting energy and water demands, a challenge that will be exacerbated by climate change. Many utilities are starting to pursue solutions that benefit both energy and water resources, like water conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable sources of energy. In a region where the energy-water nexus is becoming increasingly important, WRA is at the forefront of research and advocacy.
Smart Water
Our Smart Water Project helps urban water providers meet human water needs in fast growing communities, while ensuring there will be enough water left to sustain the region’s rivers, lakes, and aquifers. We recommend ways in which water providers can make their existing water supplies go further through efficiency measures and incentives for conservation, water re-use, and other common sense strategies. Our goal is for water providers in each state to adopt a wide array of water efficiency practices, including new rate structures, rebate programs, and landscape regulations that will effectively decrease per capita water use. Our reports, presentations, and dialogue have helped many water providers move toward this goal and usher in a new ethic of water efficiency in the West.
WRA is committed to preserving and restoring the beauty, ecology, and native fish of western rivers like the Colorado, Gunnison, Green, South Platte, and Yampa. Obtaining water rights and modifying the operation of existing dams will help ensure adequate water flows and the health of our rivers.
In 2009, WRA celebrated a major victory for Colorado’s Gunnison River when the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park exercised a water right we secured through years of litigation and negotiation. In 2010, we will monitor implementation of the settlement agreement, while also working to improve water management on the Gunnison tributaries, endangered fish recovery, and other efforts to improve flows.
Utah’s Great Salt Lake and its Tributaries
WRA provides legal representation and analysis to a coalition of groups dedicated to protecting and restoring Utah’s Great Salt Lake and its tributaries. Great Salt Lake is a national treasure, yet it is being polluted by toxins and heavy metals and diked and drained to extract mineral salts. WRA is working to stop these harmful practices, preserve the Lake’s wetlands, and safeguard migratory birds and aquatic life.