Colorado River Groundwater Decree Accounting - Joyce Owen

The presenter provided an overview of USGS water studies in support of the decree. The Colorado River is a large river in a desert area and has been the main source of both surface and groundwater  supplies seven US states as well as Mexico. 4 of the 7 states are in the Lower Basin.

The “river aquifer” is governed by state laws which requires a strong cooperation by all involved actors (federal and state organizations.)  The US Bureau of Reclamation has the duty to coordinate this integrated institutional management.  The river has had several legal acts to establish its management (see presentation.) The water is used primarily for irrigation, public water supply, domestic uses and also to export out of the river valley. 

The lower basin states have developed several legal, technical and institutional procedures to manage the river aquifers.

Lessons Learned:

- the necessity of having established ways for cooperation among different states and countries which have different legal, institutional, social/ cultural and water management approaches.
- develop appropriate methodologies for determining groundwater-surface water interactions that are relevant to Colorado river accounting (important for allocating water amongst the states and Mexico.)

Sites and water level data are available on: http://water/usgs.gov/nwrs/ and http://az.water.usgs.gov/lcr/pages/lcr.htm

Presented 20 April, Blog reporter: Julio Kettelhut