Glad to see recognition that people and industry could help by reducing water usage. Huge consumers such as Denver Water talk about conservation yet new residential and commercial developments still seem to be built as if water is unlimited.
It's supply & demand. The solution is to raise the price of water to reduce demand.
It's also: not my problem, let someone else deal with it, while I make money NOW and they don't even really know the extent of the problem. It's also how we got here, and we continue to let speculators externalize costs to society at large.
https://www.denverwater.org/your-water/water-supply-and-plan...
Careful study of a park service map for RMNP will show a tunnel. It is a water tunnel serving northern Colorado on east of divide. Fascinating construction history.
https://www.northernwater.org/what-we-do/deliver-water/color...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fryingpan%E2%80%93Arkansas_Pro... and even earlier, from 1907:
Kansas v. Colorado, 206 U.S. 46 (1907):
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/206/46/
edit: and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado%E2%80%93Big_Thompson_...
Hence the example, growing extremely water inefficient crops like alfalfa.
To manage the water level, a release was performed for the first time in the dam's history and it was spectacular. That was only 20+ years ago.
It is my understanding that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is having a very difficult time managing the water levels of Mead, Powell, Glen Canyon, and the upper Colorado. Not only due to drought but to the ever-increasing demand being placed on the system from development, agriculture, and inadequate conservation.
The potential inability to produce hydroelectric power is yet another wake-up call that things are changing fast.