MacKinnon, Anne

Climate-change aridification of Colorado River Basin in the U.S., where flows have dropped dramatically, affects the population’s thinking about water distribution and related legal and political arrangements. Century-old agreements encouraged people using the river to imagine it in segments, with little practical connection or communication between “upper” and lower” regions of the basin. Yet the multistate “Colorado River Compact” of 1922, which assumed stable average flows, now appears outdated and even threatening. Major infrastructure built to implement the compact cannot deliver expected water to the lower basin, and sanctions prompted by low flows could force shutdown of industrial and municipal uses in the upper basin. We describe how all involved are coming to see the river as a common resource which they must figure out how to share in the new era of unpredictable water flows – resulting in intense talks involving seven U.S. states and the national governments of both the U.S. and Mexico. We show that those talks echo back into local communities. Our analysis identifies fear of unilateral change as a driver of locally-designed institutional change. Even in the most rural of the basin states, Wyoming, the threat of strict enforcement of the old compact is inviting innovation. Disparate water users have begun to consider water trading and sharing that were anathema only a few years ago. Isolated ranchers, the local mining industry, small cities and conservationists at first gathered loosely to hear about basin challenges from state water managers. In 2024 they created a governance structure which encourages them to learn from each other as well as from hydrologic and economic modelling. These water users are now poised to advise state water managers what legal mechanisms will support more flexible and fluctuating water use locally and respond to the needs of the river as a whole.

In the town of Casper, Wyoming, U.S., population 60,000, a stretch of land in mountain foothills has remained undeveloped, surrounded by modest housing. People all over the town use the land for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. All other stretches of mountain foothills in the town are private property with no access. This area has remained undeveloped because it belongs to the state of Wyoming, under a 130-year-old system in which states in the western U.S. were given federal public land as they gained “statehood” in the nation. The gift of land was intended to generate revenue for states to fund public schools and other needs. In Casper the land in question had been grazed by livestock for a small fee; public access to state lands has always been allowed, so people have also recreated there for many years, unaware of state ownership. Recently a local company leased the state land for gravel mining. Neighbors were unaware of the lease until exploration pits began. State officials had approved the mine lease unaware of its location. Since the mine plan became public, outrage over the state’s use of its ownership has led to packed agency meetings and generated over 5,000 opposition petition signatures. Agency action is in limbo: the company has sued county officials who tried to stop the mine. The mine operation has not begun. The town has long thrived as a supply hub for coal, oil and gas production; the gravel company represents the 3rd generation in a wealthy local oil-gas family. For two decades, however, the traditional industries have declined. This case study suggests that people in so-called “dying industrial towns” see themselves and their place as valuable. They want a sustainable community and will fight to keep what they prize about their place.