By Jim Pokrandt

Pictured left to right at this year’s seminar: Anne Castle, Fellow at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment; Don Coram, Colorado State Representative; James Eklund, Colorado Water Conservation Board Director; Jim Pokrandt, Colorado River District Director of Community Affairs

Videos and speaker summaries from the Colorado River District’s Annual Seminar held in September are now online and can be found at www.coloradoriverdistrict.org. The seminar’s theme was “Colorado River Waves of the Future: Fitting the West to the River’s New Normal.”

More than 200 people attended the event, held in Grand Junction. Save the date for next year’s seminar: Friday, September 15, 2017, also in Grand Junction.

Viewers will be able to see presentations on funding issues for Colorado’s Water Plan; the effects of rising temperatures on the West; details of how the Lower Basin is trying to shrink its “structural deficit” between water supply and use; and Upper Basin State efforts to employ demand management in agriculture in response to low reservoir levels in Lake Powell.

Retired Justice Greg Hobbs presented at this year’s seminar. 

Not to be missed is retired Justice Greg Hobbs’ spirited defense of Colorado water law and his views on “use it or lose it” and agricultural use of water. Hobbs’ energetic presentation was spurred by the lunchtime keynote by ProPublica reporter Abrahm Lustgarten, who detailed his observations from covering water use in the West.

The website includes a written synopsis of each presentation, as well as PowerPoints and video recordings for each speaker.

Jim Pokrandt is the Community Affairs Director for the Colorado River District.