If uncommonly early wildfires and record low snowpack weren’t challenging enough, these states are also dealing with dwindling investments at the federal level. The reduction and reallocation of federal dollars resulted in several conversations at the Environmental Flows Workshop.
We discussed what it would take to fill the gaps left by government funding through private investments, corporations, and foundations. While those dollars may continue to fund on-the-ground restoration work, they are similarly limited by region and scope. The reality is that accessing those private dollars will require more collaboration across all stakeholders and water users, many of whom are not typically invited to participate in water allocation decisions. This is a problem that this group is working to solve.
In recent weeks, the Bureau of Reclamation announced they will release $35 million to Utah for drought mitigation projects in the Colorado River Basin. These dollars are only a third of what was originally appropriated before the 2025 federal funding freeze. The is still a dire need to explore additional funding avenues.
Another discussion focused on how we tell the story of the western water crisis. How do we keep the public informed, especially those whose water accessibility is most at risk? Local media—newspapers, in particular—emerged as a solution. We also highlighted the potential for religious institutions to share information with their congregations.
We heard from a representative of the Navajo nation about the consequences the Navajo nation faces when they are repeatedly excluded from the decision-making table. Currently, legislation is stalled in Congress that would allow autonomy and economic stability for Arizona’s tribes, many of whom do not have access to water in their homes.
The solutions that emerged were inclusion and education. Participants noted the urgent need for all water users (i.e., everybody) to become part of water use and planning discussions. If everyone understood the consequences of a worsening drought and poor allocation decisions, the table would be wonderfully crowded.
This conclusion comes up time and again at the Environmental Flows Workshop: the current table of water decision-makers is not big enough.
This is the value of a convening like the Environmental Flows Workshop, which is one of the only peer networks for environmental flows practitioners. It is impossible to overstate the impact of regional experts coming together to share experiences and create solutions.
