Recent Reports
As Colorado River supplies and demands reach razor-thin margins, new tools to provide adaptive capacity will play a critical role. One of the most innovative, developed over the last two decades, is “Assigned Water” - giving users the ability to store conserved water earmarked for their own future use.
Explores alternative Colorado River water supply and river management strategies to develop new tools and approaches by which the river-ecosystem outcomes of water-supply decisions can be considered.
Informal thoughts from John Fleck, journalist, scientist, and thinker. A former science journalist and Professor of Practice in Water Policy and Governance in the University of New Mexico Department of Economics, Fleck is focused on the problems of the Colorado River as an imperiled water source.
A new report "Review of Smallmouth Bass Management in the Colorado River ecosystem" explores potential expansion of the abundance and range of smallmouth bass in the Colorado River ecosystem beyond their present distribution.
Information about the Colorado River and its plumbing system, by Jack Schmidt. May 5, 2025.
The Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University is a nexus for innovative research, teaching, and outreach that informs management of the Colorado River and other major rivers of the American Southwest. We undertake critical studies that inform how different parts of the Colorado River and its tributaries can be effectively managed, train future researchers and managers who will be responsible for tomorrow's Colorado River, and provide education and training to stakeholders to support informed and focused decision making. Because the water available to restore the Colorado River ecosystem is increasingly limited, we are especially interested in research and outreach to inform the very difficult decisions about priority locations and actions that provide the best opportunity for significant restoration success.
Lael Gilbert
Outreach Coordinator
lael.gilbert@usu.edu
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Jack Schmidt
Program Director
jack.schmidt@usu.edu
Data Access
Colorado River Reservoir Storage History (1951-current)
Reservoir History
A recent emergency agreement on the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande illustrates what is possible, and with old river management rules on the Colorado both within the United States and between the United States and Mexico about to expire, we are at a moment of opport...
The Post-2026 Colorado River draft EIS, and the deep questions it raises, is an “everything including the kitchen sink” sort of process. But at its root, the question it raises is simple: Tell us what you’re going to do.
Lake Powell and Lake Mead are at risk of drawdown to their minimum power and dead pools in the next few years because current and proposed shortage and release operations tied to reservoir storage and sometimes prior natural flow cannot keep pace with U.S...
