Coalition Blasts Plans To Divert Colorado River Amid Drought

Farmers, conservationists and small-town business owners are calling for an end to what they call wasteful uses of Colorado River water.

On Thursday, they gathered at Hoover Dam to demand the federal government scrap plans to divert water from Lake Powell upstream to accommodate anticipated growth. They said it didn’t make sense to build pipelines to enable more wasteful use in some places while mandating cuts in others. Climate change has made the West much warmer and drier in the past 30 years. A historic drought has decreased the amount that flows through the Colorado River. Officials expect to declare the first-ever water shortage declaration next month.