Via Headwaters News comes this report on the first day of the State of the Rockies Conference, currently underway in Colorado Springs:

But Day 1 really began to cook at the first panel on water sustainability. Attendees packed the room and, following panelists’ presentations, the audience threw tough questions at the speakers.

The first speaker from the panel was Tyler McMahon, a senior at Colorado College. Dressed in a gray suit with a red-striped tie not quite pulled snug, McMahon launched into an overview of his chapter, which focused on water transfers from agriculture users to urban water entities.

McMahon used a series of graphs and charts to show that water withdraws are increasing across the country and region, with Idaho and Colorado leading the western states. The driest states, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah had the least. He then went on to illustrate how farm economics and urban growth markets are together fueling the transfers.

It’s an interesting read, and I recommend you take the time to check out the entire report.