With the river overtaxed, Grand Valley farmers now face some of the most urgent questions regarding the future of water in Colorado and the West.
Joe Bernal works on his family's farm on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Fruita, Colo. With the Colorado River overtaxed, Grand Valley farmers in Colorado now face some of the most urgent questions regarding the future of water in the river and the West.This is part of a collaborative series on the Colorado River on the eve of the Colorado River Compact, signed nearly 100 years ago.
When the New York Times declared in a January 2021 headline that “Wall Street eyes billions in the Colorado’s water,” Colorado water users voiced significant concern about the company’s motives. Three years ago, Water Asset Management purchased a farm from a landowner who was leasing land to Bernal, who farms alfalfa, corn and other crops north of Fruita. A member of the water users association board, Bernal has since leased a few other WAM-owned fields. The way he puts it, he’s neither WAM’s advocate nor their adversary. “I keep saying, ‘So far so good,’” Bernal said. “Am I glad they’re here? Not really. Would I have invited them in? No.
“With all the issues that are going on on the Colorado River, I think programs like this might become a necessary evil,” Waters said. “I think Colorado is going to have to do their part; even though I still feel this whole mess is the Lower Basin’s fault — they created it. The Lower Basin states have just been willy-nilly drainin’ them reservoirs.”
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