An essential part of knowing where you’re going is having a solid understanding of where you’ve been.

That’s no less true for the future of the Colorado River system – one of the most complex managed waterways in the world – than it is for anything else.

At the Colorado River Water Users Association’s annual end-of-year conference, a panel of river experts on Wednesday summarized and analyzed the sometimes-positive, sometimes not-so-positive recent history of the river.

The panelists of “A Site Review: Effectiveness of Current and Past Programs” included:

Moderator Terry Fulp, the former Regional Director, Lower Colorado River Basin, Bureau of Reclamation; David Palumbo, Deputy Commissioner of Operations, Bureau of Reclamation; Eric Kuhn, the retired General Manager of the Colorado River Water Conservation District of Colorado; Amy Haas, Executive Director, Colorado River Authority of Utah; Patrick Dent, Deputy General Manager, Central Arizona Water Conservation District; and, Greg Walch, General Counsel, Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Summarizing the status of the river system today, Eric Kuhn of Colorado observed that the 2023 winter snowpack season in his state “is off to an uninspiring start.”

He observed that Colorado snowpack today stands at about 60 percent of normal. The next 24-month study of river conditions, produced by the Bureau of Reclamation, could show a river-production drop of 1 million acre-feet from previous expectations, he said.

David Palumbo of the Bureau discussed the wide range of federal programs that are being implemented currently, many of them dedicated to conserving water in the river system.

The now-famous “2007 Interim Guidelines,” which set guidelines for shortages that each Lower Basin state would take in the event of delivery shortfalls, “were fundamental to the operation of the Colorado River,” he said.

Although those ’07 Guidelines proved insufficient for keeping the river system reservoirs from descending to critical surface levels, they were “rooted in the best available guidelines that we had at the time.”

Amy Haas of Utah recalled the history of the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan negotiations – the second great collaborative effort by Colorado River user-states to protect the system.

Patrick Dent of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District – operators of the Central Arizona Project canal system – observed the substantial increases in conservation efforts over the years. Conservation in 2014 by the Colorado River states amounted to less than 1 million acre-feet.

By 2023, however, the amount conserved to protect the system shot up to 6.93 million acre-feet. That staggering conservation figure, he noted, Intentionally Created Surplus water stored by the United States; contributions stipulated in the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan; system conservation efforts and other conservation efforts, as well as water saved under the terms of the ’07 Guidelines.