Healthy Rivers and Lakes

Protecting and Restoring the West’s Rivers and Lakes

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Climate change and growing populations in the West are putting our rivers and lakes in danger, as water demands increase beyond what our rivers can provide. The West is one of the fastest growing regions in the nation, and we must take steps to safeguard our rivers and lakes through wiser water management and updated water policies and laws.

With smarter solutions, water demands for our communities and farms can be met while keeping enough water to make rivers and lakes healthy.

We envision a future where the West’s rivers and lakes have abundant clean water to support fish and wildlife, communities and farms, and world class recreational opportunities. The Colorado River will flow to the sea.

Focus Areas

Keeping Water in River & Lakes

With a warming climate and more water being taken out for growing communities, the West’s rivers and lakes are in danger of drying up.

Protecting the Colorado River

Changing the way we use water from the Colorado River is crucial if we want to save the West’s hardest working river.

Water Conservation & Efficiency

Conserving water and reducing wasted water are the cheapest, fastest, and most reliable ways to secure our water supplies and protect the health of rivers and lakes.

More on Healthy Rivers & Lakes

In this issue you’ll learn all about WRA’s work with wildlife corridors, why we’re tackling climate pollution from vehicles and buildings, and how one WRA supporter is helping WRA create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive conservation workforce.

2020 Fall Field Notes

For the past 30 years, the advocacy and hard work of WRA’s dedicated experts and our passionate community of supporters have helped ensure a healthier, more wide-open, and wilder West.
From systematically working to transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, to protecting miles of rivers and habitat, we all can be proud of how we’ve helped protect this region. But this year has been like no other, and the challenges we face are increasing.

The Interior West is feeling pressure from every direction, and now more than ever, it’s on us all to ensure that the future we envision for this region stays within our reach. The most important way you can do this is by making sure you vote—and get everyone you know to vote.

2019 WRA Annual Report

Thirty years after we were founded, Western Resource Advocates has grown stronger, more nimble, and more effective—just when our communities need it most.

Water Conservation and the Farm Bill

Recent changes in 2018 Farm Bill programs provide new opportunities to substantially reduce losses and conserve water through voluntary incentive measures that, if fully utilized, are essential to ensuring sustainability of the Colorado River.