If we turned off every tap in every city in the southwest, we still wouldn't solve the Colorado River crisis. That's because 80 percent of the water goes to agriculture — to the lettuce and melons in your produce section, the half-and-half you put in your coffee every morning. Those farmers have some of the preeminent rights to the river. So what if the government paid them to keep their water in the river instead?
For more CPR News coverage of the Colorado River, visit cpr.org/parched.
Host: Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Written by Michael Elizabeth Sakas
Editors: Erin Jones, Joe Wertz
Production and Mixing: Emily Williams
Theme song by Kibwe Cooper. Additional music via Universal Production Music.
Artwork: Maria Juliana Pinzón
Executive Producers: Kevin Dale, Brad Turner
Additional Editorial Support: Alison Borden, Kibwe Cooper, Jo Erickson, Rachel Estabrook, Luis Antonio Perez, Taylar Dawn Stagner, Andrew Villegas
Thanks also to Sarah Bures, Hart Van Denburg, Jodi Gersh, Kim Nguyen, Clara Shelton, Arielle Wilson.
Parched is a production of the Climate Solutions team of CPR News and Colorado Public Radio’s Audio Innovations Studio — part of the NPR Network.
James Eklund, a former member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, with a photo of his grandfather and its shared background, at the family’s Norse Sky Ranch near Colbran, Colorado, Oct. 22, 2022. Eklund’s family were among the first white settlers here in the Plateau Creek Valley - the creek is a tributary of the Colorado River. He’s is a proponent of a voluntary “demand management” approach to the Colorado River - paying farmers not irrigate and instead use that saved water to meet downstream obligations.
Cattle on the Norse Sky Ranch along Plateau Creek on the Western Slope, during bright fall colors, near Colbran, Colorado, Oct. 22, 2022. The Eklund family owns the ranch and were among the first white settlers in the valley. - the creek is a tributary of the Colorado River. James Eklund, a former member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, is a proponent of a voluntary “demand management” approach to the Colorado River - paying farmers not irrigate and instead use that saved water to meet downstream obligations.
The Norse Sky Ranch headgate on Plateau Creek near Colbran on the Western Slope, Oct. 22, 2022 - the creek is a tributary of the Colorado River.. The Eklund family owns the ranch and were among the first white settlers in the valley. Larry’s son James Eklund, a former member of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, is a proponent of a voluntary “demand management” approach to the Colorado River - paying farmers not irrigate and instead use that saved water to meet downstream obligations.
