Sponsored content
If one of America’s biggest employers announced it was leaving, the response would be predictable. Emergency meetings would be convened. Incentives would be negotiated. Leaders would move quickly because the economic consequences would be clear.
Jobs would disappear. Supply chains would be disrupted. Entire local economies would feel the impact.
That thought experiment offers a useful way to understand what is unfolding across the American West, and why it demands greater economic attention. The “employer” in question is not a company. It is a river.
It irrigates major agricultural areas in California and Arizona that contribute a significant share of the nation’s fresh produce, supports hydropower generation at facilities including Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam, and has helped fuel the growth of metropolitan areas such as Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.
By hydrologic measures, the system is under increasing strain. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, combined storage across Lake Mead and Lake Powell has declined significantly over the past two decades, with total storage hovering around a third of capacity in recent weeks. In 2026, federal officials have continued to warn that lower reservoir levels could affect hydropower generation if drought conditions persist.
If a company underpinning this level of economic activity signaled instability, it would likely trigger immediate action. The river is not literally an employer, but its gradual deterioration poses economic risks of a comparable scale. So far, the collective response has not matched the scale or speed of the underlying risk.
For years, the river’s condition has largely been viewed through an environmental lens. That framing is now shifting as economic exposure becomes harder to ignore, with business groups and regional stakeholders increasingly focused on long-term growth, investor confidence, and resource security.
In January 2024, a coalition of business organizations including the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry and regional economic groups in Colorado published statements urging policymakers to reach an agreement on future water management rules for the river. They emphasized that the framework governing water allocation plays a critical role in economic stability, investor confidence, and job creation across the American West.
The current operating guidelines, known as the Colorado River Interim Guidelines, are scheduled to expire at the end of 2026. Negotiations among the seven basin states, 30 recognized Tribal Nations, and federal agencies are ongoing, but agreement on a long-term framework has not yet been finalized.
Industries ranging from agriculture and food production to advanced manufacturing, energy, and real estate are directly or indirectly exposed to these dynamics.
There are precedents for addressing challenges of this scale. The basin states have previously negotiated complex agreements, including the Colorado River Compact of 1922 and the Colorado River Interim Guidelines of 2007, which are set to expire at the end of 2026. Recent investments in water conservation, agricultural efficiency, reuse technologies, and nature-based solutions show that water use can be reduced while still supporting economic activity and long-term resilience.
That perspective is part of what drives global water advocate Mina Guli, who is running the length of the river this summer, covering approximately 2,000 miles from the Rocky Mountains to Los Angeles. Her effort highlights the economic and societal importance of the river.
“I am running to help transform awareness into action, to safeguard livelihoods, economies and futures,” Guli said. “We’re all connected to this river in more ways than we realize. Water is everything. We need to stop treating it like it’s nothing.”
The solutions that can help reduce pressure on the river already exist. The question is how quickly, and at what scale, they will be implemented.
The Colorado River has never filed earnings reports or negotiated tax incentives. But for decades, it has functioned as a foundational economic enabler across the American West, supporting industries, employment, and growth.
The question now is whether its long-term decline will be managed with the urgency typically reserved for major economic disruption, or whether the situation will be allowed to worsen.
For business leaders, the issue is no longer abstract. It is operational, financial, and material to both individual balance sheets and shared regional economies.
Learn more at KeepTheRiverRunning.com
Join the world’s largest grassroots movement for water this year as Mina Guli runs the length of the Colorado River.
