Teetering on the Edge
greatly needed humor at the end
Friends of Confluence West -
Whenever we start writing a Three Drop Thursday, I always hope to share some good news about the Colorado River Basin. Still nope and nada.
As Dr. Doug Kenney at UC Boulder, a go-to Colorado River Basin maven, told me this week, all of the push-comes-to-pull discussions are reaching a crescendo. Mead and Powell continue to be a low levels, and while the Upper Basin is getting a big round of precipitation this week, the overall runoff forecast is bleak.
Three Drop Thursday readers who are not CRB aficionados often ask, “Why all this attention, Kimery, on the Colorado River Basin?” Easy: 35+ million people in seven states and two countries, critters on the brink, and a $1.4 trillion economy (recreation, manufacturing, ag, and 16M jobs).
Let’s hope a few people at the CRB negotiating table decide to blink gracefully.
At the bottom, you’ll find a blurb on something we all need right now – Jay Lund humor!
As always, we look forward to your comments and questions.
For the West,
Kimery
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Nope and nada
]The rumor mill has been busy, but since there’s no Department of Interior Undersecretary (that will change soon), and because the states are meeting behind closed doors (only state representatives at the table), we peons on the outside know nothing for certain.
Two current rumors: The DOI has given the Basin states some time (don’t know exactly) between the end of May and mid-June to reach an agreement. The last (maybe?) states’ negotiating meeting is… June 10?
We know that a lot of saber-rattling is happening, but does that mean lawsuits? Since it’s a compact between states, any case would go directly to the Supremes.
Go to where the fun is this June
For more fun, make sure to attend the Getches-Wilkinson Annual Colorado River conference next month! If you haven’t attended, this is the place to hear from some really smart people with different perspectives, and to corner the person you’ve always wanted to talk with in the hall, or, depending on gender, in the bathroom.
Pro tip: Bring your lunch or grab a few people and go out. The cafeteria food is … college cafeteria food.
If you have attended in the past, you know what I’m talking about (including the pro tip.)
Let’s get boring
While we typically highlight only three items (it is THREE Drop Thursday, many people's lives are somewhat grim right now, so we could all use a little more Jay Lund humor – How to give a profoundly boring technical talk.
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