On June 22, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources was proud to announce that Rebecca (Becky) Mitchell was appointed as Colorado’s first full-time commissioner to the Upper Colorado River Commission (UCRC). Having served as director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) for six years, and simultaneously as a UCRC commissioner for the past four, Mitchell will now be devoting her time fully to working with the UCRC to ensure appropriate allocation of, and protection for, the Colorado River across multiple states.
The UCRC is an interstate water administrative agency established in partnership with Congress and five states with the enactment of the 1948 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, which guaranteed a fixed percentage of water from the Colorado River to each of the Upper Basin states on an ongoing annual basis. Following the construction of the Hoover Dam in 1931, and in the face of rapid development in Lower Basin states like Arizona, California and southern Nevada, concerns arose among the Upper Basin states that much of their water would be lost to this southwestern development. Under the original terms of the agreement, Colorado would have access to 52% of 7.5 million acre-feet of water per year for the Upper Basin, Utah 23%, Wyoming 14% and New Mexico 11%.
The UCRC is staffed by one representative appointed by the governor of each Upper Basin state, and one member appointed by the United States president, and now primarily functions to promote mutual benefits for Upper Basin states and to ensure water storage for future development. Other responsibilities include stream gauging, forecasting, data analysis and providing findings for water usage and reservoir losses in the Colorado River.
After half a decade as director of the CWCB, Mitchell is no stranger to issues specific to the West’s most important waterway. She assisted greatly in the development of the 2023 Colorado Water Plan, which functions as a thorough framework for statewide water planning into 2050. Mitchell also worked with the Interbasin Compact Committee in order to provide a diverse and equitable forum for river policy across Colorado.
Appointed by Governor Polis, Mitchell will be working with Colorado water experts to protect the state amid drier conditions, year by year. “Climate change, coupled with Lower Basin overuse, have changed the dynamic on the Colorado River, and we have no choice but to do things differently than we have before,” said Mitchell.
In fact, new legislation is a necessity regardless of one’s position on water use. Several documents and agreements governing the management of the Colorado River are scheduled to expire in 2026, including the 2019 Drought Contingency Plans as well as international agreements between the United States and Mexico. “The next few years are going to be incredibly intense as we shift the way that the seven basin states cooperate and operate lakes Powell and Mead,” Mitchell said. In negotiating sustainable operations for the future, Mitchell’s policy is rooted in what she calls her “Post-2026 Irrefutable Truths.”
These include an acknowledgement of the reality of climate change, a recognition that water users in the Lower Basin are equal to those in the Upper Basin, that Lower Basin use must respond better to real data and tribal nations have water rights which must be preserved.
In 2023, the Department of the Interior announced a formal process to develop the post-2026 guidelines for the operation of Lake Powell and Lake Mead. The formal process to initiate an Environmental Impact Statement was announced through a Notice of Intent, available for public comment until Aug. 15. During this development process, Mitchell is committed to respecting the equal rights of the upper and lower basins, as well as tribal nations.
Mitchell also emphasized her commitment to listening to the needs of Coloradans as water use becomes more and more contested, and comments can be offered to her office directly on the CWCB website’s Colorado River Commissioner’s Corner.
“We have the tools to solve this,” Mitchell emphasized. “We just need the collective resolve and determination to implement them in a thoughtful, collaborative way.”