Decision-Support Tools
What is The Freshwater Trust doing here?
To proactively address water shortages in the Colorado River Basin, the Colorado River District partnered with The Freshwater Trust (TFT) to develop analytical tools that can evaluate and guide voluntary, temporary, and compensated water conservation programs. The goal is to support these near-term, water conservation actions while laying the foundation for more durable, long-term solutions—solutions that include modernizing aging irrigation infrastructure and improving water measurement and management. TFT's decision-support tools (DST) helped partners, irrigators, and policy makers evaluate the economic and environmental impacts of conservation pilot projects and are being used to model ways future projects could meet water savings targets, reduce adverse economic impacts, and achieve better environmental and agricultural results.
Why is this work important?
The Colorado River brings water to seven U.S. states and parts of Mexico. It irrigates 5 million acres of agricultural land, serves 30 Native American tribes, and provides more than 40 million people with drinking water. Over the past 25 years, Colorado River water use has greatly exceeded natural flows—draining the nation’s largest reservoirs and precipitating a crisis across the basin. To be sustainable, water use needs to be reduced by 2–4 million acre-feet per year.
There is a lot at stake in protecting the Colorado River, and many people are involved in making decisions. As a non-partial third party, TFT can help decision-makers find common ground by providing unbiased information and models grounded in science to show the most efficient and cost-effective conservation options that provide win-win scenarios for the economy, people, and the environment.
How can you support these efforts?
One key way to support our efforts is through donations. TFT ensures that every dollar you give delivers measurable results that will make a difference.
You can also support us by subscribing to our newsletter and following or sharing our updates on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn to help drive meaningful freshwater conservation.
Want to take a deeper dive?
Learn more about what we’re doing in the Colorado River basin and about our patented technology by following these links:
