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“Congress recently passed landmark, bipartisan legislation to protect the Colorado River system and the nearly one in eight Americans who rely on it for their drinking water and livelihoods. The Drought Contingency Plan (DCP) provides crucial stability for a river system that spans seven states, two countries and supports thousands of American companies, communities and ecosystems across the West.
The region has been buffeted by 20 years of persistent drought. Winter snows this year bring some relief, but the two main reservoirs on the Colorado River are less than half full. Continuing drought would trigger mandatory delivery cuts and could lead to a “shortage” declaration with impacts to our water use and supplies.
That’s a sobering prospect for a river system that supplies drinking water to nearly 40 million people every year, supports 16 million American jobs, generates $1.4 trillion in economic benefits and irrigates nearly 6 million acres of farmland.
DCP puts safeguards in place to help manage water use now and better deal with a potential shortage. Utah, Arizona and the five other Colorado River basin states wisely chose to include conservation measures in the DCP — and shared in their sacrifice to avoid costly litigation and imposed cuts.
Congress and the states should be commended for this bipartisan, collaborative process. The success of that process also illustrates how business leaders can work with lawmakers to find common ground across the aisle and develop policies safeguarding the natural resources so vital to our regional and national economies.”
– The Hill, Water is an economic issue, not just an environmental issue.
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country. Follow the series: Indian Country 52
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
