Daniel Rothberg

Graph showing the NOAA Colorado Basin River Forecast Center's forecasts of April to July inflows to Lake Powell from 1991 to 2026, with colored lines showing how each season's forecast evolved from January through July. The latest Forecast, February 2026, is the lowest outlook for this time of year since at least 1991.

Given the latest NOAA CBRFC inflow forecast for Lake Powell, I dusted off this plot from my Twitter days and updated it.

The Feb 1st outlook for Colorado River flows hasn't been this poor in >35 years. Even if wetter weather ahead, bottom-10 outcome likely.

h/t @glenwoodrek.bsky.social

I grew up with Alex Pretti The kind-hearted ICU nurse shot by ICE agents was my childhood best friend.

I wrote about my childhood friend Alexi Pretti. Please read it and share it and remember him as a human being. @theverge.com

Thanks for sharing @ianjames.bsky.social!

Arizona takes action on groundwater overuse And "nonfunctional turf" taken to court.

Arizona takes action on groundwater overuse

And ‘nonfunctional turf’ is taken to court

A fascinating read by @danielrothberg.bsky.social — and thanks for flagging the story, Daniel!
open.substack.com/pub/invisibl...

Arizona draws a line on groundwater use after letting Saudi-owned company pump freely for years Arizona's governor says the state will start limiting groundwater pumping in an area where a Saudi farm grows hay and aquifer levels are dropping.

"Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said Monday that her administration is acting to 'crack down on the out-of-state special interests that are pumping our state dry while Arizona families and farmers suffer.'" From @ianjames.bsky.social www.latimes.com/environment/...

Feds release draft report outlining management plans for Colorado River’s future The Bureau of Reclamation on Friday released a draft of options for how to manage the Colorado River water supply for years to come.

The U.S. government released its draft environmental review of options for new Colorado River rules to replace current operating guidelines that expire this year. Sounds dry but very important for a watershed that supports 40 million people in the Southwest. coloradosun.com/2026/01/09/c...

Image of river protection status in the United States

National assessment of river protection in the U.S.

Article: doi.org/10.1038/s418...
Policy Brief: doi.org/10.1038/s418...
Rivers Explorer: map.myriver.americanrivers.org

Collaboration b/t American Rivers, Conservation Science Partners, Univ WA @americanrivers.bsky.social

Thread 👇 | DM for PDF

America's Ghost Lake “Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too.

"...the ghost of Tulare Lake has much more to teach us than its existence alone. Tulare Lake wasn’t drained because it failed. It was drained because it worked, precisely as nature intended." @andrewrypel.bsky.social writes on America's Ghost Lake tnature.substack.com/p/americas-g...

At Lake Powell, Engineering Is Outpacing Colorado River Policy As Lake Powell drops toward critical thresholds, engineers are making long-term infrastructure decisions even as post-2026 Colorado River rules remain unresolved.

"The drop (in Lake Powell) is compressing the margin between routine operations and hard infrastructure limits at Glen Canyon Dam as negotiations over post-2026 Colorado River operating rules remain unresolved." www.enr.com/articles/622...

This is so sad on so many levels.

California cities pay a lot for water; some agricultural districts get it for free Water costs are confusing — even for the experts. A new study shows huge differences in what cities and farm water districts pay for supplies from rivers and reservoirs in California, Arizona, and Nev...

"One of the West’s most valuable resources has no consistent valuation – and sometimes costs nothing at all." | California cities pay a lot for water; some agricultural districts get it for free calmatters.org/environment/...

New report from the Colorado River Research Group: Dancing with Deadpool. It begins: "Conditions on the Colorado River are, to put it bluntly, dire." www.colorado.edu/center/gwc/C...

The AI boom is heralding a new gold rush in the American west Once home to gold and prospectors, the Nevada desert is now the site of a new kind of expansion: tech datacenters

"Nevada is completely over-allocated on its groundwater resources. It’s the driest state in the union. Our tribe’s number one goal is protecting our resources." | The AI boom is heralding a new gold rush in the American west www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

A new report looks at approaches for updating local ordinances in California to consider the connection between groundwater use and streamflow within the context of SGMA and a 2018 ruling that applied public trust considerations to well permits. www.groundwaterresourcehub.org/content/dam/...

I joined @danielrothberg.bsky.social for the first video edition of his newsletter, Invisible Waters—imo the best resource for staying up to date about what’s going on with water in the West—to talk about my forthcoming book, Salt Lakes:
substack.com/@cetracey/no...

‘The precedent is Flint’: How Oregon’s data center boom is supercharging a water crisis | Food and Environment Reporting Network In the spring of 2022, Jim Doherty kept having the same conversation with folks at the only grocery store in Boardman, his eastern Oregon hometown, or at the grain depot where he picked up food for…

‘The precedent is Flint’: How Oregon’s data center boom is supercharging a water crisis thefern.org/2025/11/the-...

Have you been wanting to learn more about Nobel Prize winner Elinor Ostrom's ideas for collaborative governance?

Now is your chance to get that copy of The Uncommon Knowledge of Elinor Ostrom for half price!

islandpress.org/books/uncomm...

Thanks Ian for sharing!

What happened on the Colorado River? Negotiating around legal uncertainties as climate change takes its toll.

“Litigation could take years, if not decades, to resolve. The effects of aridification are unfolding at a faster rate.” @danielrothberg.bsky.social invisiblewaters.substack.com/p/what-happe...

Why Colorado River negotiations are so difficult - High Country News Basin states have had 2 years to figure out how to share the shrinking river. Will they get there before the feds step in?

“Previous negotiations did not address core issues. They either delayed them or worked around them, making do based on the circumstances of the time.” Good piece from Caitlin Ochs on the legal questions behind the Colorado River talks: www.hcn.org/articles/why...

California Promised Insurance Relief, But Delivered Loopholes

New York Times investigation finds home insurance companies have exploited loopholes in California wildfire regulations to avoid high-risk areas while still charging higher rates: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/01/u...

my latest: CRIT grants personhood status to #coloradoriver - 3rd in North America by Indigenous peoples. www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...

Colorado River talks hit crunch time. What's at stake for California water? Western states in the Colorado River basin are racing a federal deadline to hash out how to share the overtapped river. As the clock ticks down, two questions looms large: Just how real is this deadli...

Colorado River talks hit crunch time as deadline from Trump administration looms calmatters.org/environment/...

Well Into the Future A Nevada program addressed overallocation of groundwater by paying farmers to use less. Is it working?

Do groundwater rights retirement programs work? There is certainly demand for them in Nevada. For KNPR and the Daily Yonder, I talked to irrigators about their experiences with a pilot program in areas where aquifers are being depleted faster than they are replenished. knpr.org/desert-compa...

Rivers are messy: Beyond the water bias in research and management This article reviews current trends in interdisciplinary river research to argue that a “water bias” or tendency consider rivers as synonymous with water can hinder our understanding of rivers and con...

Exactly a year ago, Ellen Wohl, @parriblue.bsky.social and I spent two days in Providence thinking about #rivers and how we conceptualize them & live with them. Here’s the result of history and fluvial geomorphology teaming up. #envhist

doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Episode 72: A Blueprint for Community Organizing around Data Centers — Water Talk A conversation with Professor Michael Bogan (University of Arizona School of Natural Resources and the Environment) about data center water use, the concept of water neutral development, and community...

Highly recommend these eye-opening Water Talk podcast episodes about how local governments and communities are struggling to assess the impacts of data center proposals because of NDAs, etc...

- www.watertalkpodcast.com/episodes/epi...

- www.watertalkpodcast.com/episodes/epi...

Amazon strategised about keeping its datacentres’ full water use secret, leaked document shows Executives at world’s biggest datacentre owner grappled with disclosing information about water used to help power facilities

“Regardless of what sort of offsetting or replenishment you do, it doesn’t necessarily nullify the water footprints of your own operations." Amazon strategised about keeping its datacentres’ full water use secret, leaked document shows www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Thanks to you both for the kind words! It's a small world. Glad we are all connected.

Where there's mining there's water Gold hit a record-high this week. Behind the commodity price is a water story, too.

Wrote a bit about the mining and (ground)water nexus in the Western U.S., with the rush for critical minerals and gold surpassing $4,000/ounce. invisiblewaters.substack.com/p/where-ther...

Melanie Winter, who fought for embracing nature along the Los Angeles River, dies Melanie Winter led efforts to embrace nature along the L.A. River, touting the potential for a restored river to heal the city's relationship to water. She was 67.

Melanie Winter, who dedicated much of her life to reimagining the Los Angeles River as a natural asset, has died.

I feel fortunate to have known Melanie and learned about her vision for a living river. She inspired many others, who will carry her vision with them. www.latimes.com/environment/...