Helping our water do more with Aaron Derwingson of the Nature Conservancy

Today on the show, Western Landowners Alliance's Programs Director Hallie Mahowald had the pleasure of talking to a good friend, Aaron Derwingson. Derwingson is the water projects director for the Nature Conservancy's Colorado River program. He and Hallie both live in Salida, Colorado. Derwingson has piloted water banking and other tools for flexible water management, conducted field research on the impacts of reduced irrigation, evaluated alternative low water use crops, and upgraded irrigation systems to help improve river flows. Before joining The Nature Conservancy, Aaron served as the Stewardship Director for the Rio Grande Headwaters Land Trust. They discussed the current situation on the Colorado River, some of the many ways that landowners, in partnership with organizations like TNC, are making their water go farther and do more, and the role of water markets in creating the flexibility in the river system that is needed. You can find links to references from the conversation, as well as a complete transcript of this episode, at onland.westernlandowners.org. Topics discussed [00:01:30] Shortage challenges in the Colorado River Basin [00:02:19] Doing more with less water [00:04:50] Examples of solutions for making our water go farther [00:05:56] Maybell irrigation District diversion improvements [00:08:31] Minute 323 water for the environment [00:09:59] Role of water markets [00:11:38] All water is local [00:12:20] Power, rural communities and water [00:13:30] Federal funding and the big opportunity right now [00:14:56] Role of the states in water funding [00:16:38] Are our institutions nimble enough for the water crisis [00:18:09] How water rights holders can be involved in solutions [00:19:00] Auto Tarp and appropriate technology [00:20:11] Low-tech restoration [00:20:57] Compensation for leaving water instream [00:21:46] Markets for flexibility and public benefit [00:22:58] Creative water sharing agreements [00:24:41] Integrate the social with the technical [00:27:07] The urgency of the Colorado River crisis keeps him up at night [00:28:25] Elinor Ostrom and the tragedy of the commons [00:29:37] We need landowners to solve this crisis