Protect Drinking Water – Save the Colorado River Basin!

The Colorado River is collapsing! Overuse by Big Ag (guzzling trillions of gallons of water for alfalfa for cattle on factory farms and megadairies) and looming Big Tech data centers threaten drinking water for 40 million people and worsen droughts in already dry areas.

The Bureau of Reclamation is accepting public comments as it negotiates a new water agreement for the Colorado River Basin. Submit your comment by March 2 to save the Basin and protect our water from corporate greed!

Your Message

Bureau of Reclamation

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The Colorado River is in crisis, yet discussions of future management alternatives do not account for how the water is used. The Bureau must use its authority to push the Basin states to reach a joint agreement that accepts the need for mandatory conservation measures limiting corporate water abuses.

Overuse by major agribusiness and tech corporations threatens the basin and water supply for 40 million people. Considering this major threat of collapse, any plan going forward must include an immediate halt to the expansion of alfalfa, mega dairies, and data centers, and a significant rollback of the cultivation of crops that consume large quantities of water and are not suited to growth in highly arid climates.

The vast majority of water from the Colorado River is used by big agribusiness, primarily for growing alfalfa, a feedstock for cattle on factory farms. Across all seven Basin states, alfalfa farms consumed an estimated 2.1 trillion gallons of water in 2025, enough to supply the Basin’s 40 million people with water for nearly 3 and a half years.

Mega dairies, which produce significant pollution and threaten drinking water, consumed 82 billion gallons of water in 2022 across the Basin states (excluding Wyoming, for which no data were available).

These agricultural uses are not efficient. Basin states applied 2.6 acre feet of water/acre – 70% higher than the US average – for crops ill-suited to arid climates.

Finally, big technology companies across the Basin states are deploying water-hungry data centers with little regulation or regard for impacts on water resources.

With the Colorado River significantly overstretched, every environmental analysis and plan for the future must consider how the River’s resources are being used. The overuse of the Colorado River by big agribusiness and technology corporations – amid already record-low water levels and drought – has serious consequences that threaten accessible drinking water for 40 million people.

I urge the Bureau of Reclamation to prioritize sustainability and the needs of the 40 million people relying on the Colorado River for drinking water over corporate profit.

Sincerely,
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{user_data~City}, {user_data~State} {user_data~Ghost Zip Code}

Sincerely,
[First Name] [Last Name]
[Your Address]

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