Corporate Water Stewardship in the Colorado River Basin

New Report Highlights Pathways and Barriers to Corporate Water Stewardship in the Colorado River Basin

Takeaways

Water resilience in the Colorado River Basin will require contributions from all sectors.
Corporations can play an important role in enhancing water resilience through initiatives in their operations and supply chains, by educating consumers, and by co-funding innovative projects.
Several barriers currently hinder corporations from scaling up their positive water impact.
This report highlights actions corporations can take to make a meaningful impact on water stewardship in the Colorado River Basin states and other water stressed regions globally.

On October 24^th, the Pacific Institute released Pathways and Barriers to Corporate Water Stewardship in the Colorado River Basin. Written by Dr. Christine Curtis, Cora Snyder, and Michael Cohen and based on 20 interviews with corporate and non-corporate stakeholders, the report highlights opportunities to scale corporate investment and build long-term resilience in the beleaguered basin. It also highlights critical challenges to such efforts and examples of methods to overcome them.

The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the American West. It supports 30 Native American tribes and farms, cities, and ecosystems in seven US states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming—and the Mexican states of Baja California and Sonora. But the river is in crisis. The combination of a crippling drought that began 24 years ago, the historic over-allocation of the river’s declining runoff, and climate change have exacerbated a structural deficit—where more water leaves the system than enters it.

Water resilience in the Colorado River Basin will require contributions from all sectors. These efforts must be strategic, coordinated, and amplified to tackle the Basin’s challenges effectively. Corporations can play an important role through their operations and supply chains, by educating consumers, and by co-funding innovative projects. While a subset of leading companies is pursuing Corporate Water Stewardship (CWS) in the Basin, the corporate effort must be scaled considerably to meet the magnitude of the water crisis at hand. 

Our new report sheds light on the many challenges, opportunities, and potential strategies to foster water resilience in the Basin. It builds on our previous efforts, including Joining Forces: Innovative Co-Funding to Enhance Corporate Water Stewardship Impact in the Colorado River Basin, and complements ongoing state and federal efforts to foster basin resilience. 

KEY FINDINGS