Years of extreme drought have left the Colorado River at alarmingly low levels. Earlier this month, water management experts testified in front of a Senate energy and Natural Resources Committee that's seeking ways for the Western United States to drastically cut back water usage. With all the recent reporting on the issue, it's important to remember that this sad state of affairs has been a slow-moving disaster visible to all those willing to pay attention. This week on Sea Change Radio, we revisit our 2016 conversation with John Fleck, a water expert focused on the problems of the Colorado River and the author of “Water is For Fighting Over: And Other Myths About Water in the West.” We learn about the struggle over water rights in Arizona, discuss how Mexico and the US are cooperating over the Colorado River Delta and talk about the complexities of growing alfalfa in the desert.

Narrator 00:01 This is Sea Change Radio covering the shift to sustainability. I'm Alex Wise. You had these communities that were along this river that had always been a dry riverbed and they got to see their river come back.

John Fleck 00:29 It was a precedent that was so gratifying to all the people, including the water managers who you think of as the old water buffaloes who just want water for their city in their farm. It was so cool to see that water and it was such a moving experience where everybody was involved.

Narrator 00:45 Years of extreme drought have left the Colorado River at alarmingly low levels. Earlier this month, water management experts testified in front of a Senate energy and Natural Resources Committee that's seeking ways for the Western United States to drastically cut back water usage. With all the recent reporting on the issue, it's important to remember that this sad state of affairs has been a slow-moving disaster visible to all those willing to pay attention. This week on Sea Change Radio, we revisit our 2016 conversation with John Fleck, a water expert focused on the problems of the Colorado River and the author of “Water is For Fighting Over: And Other Myths About Water in the West.” We learn about the struggle over water rights in Arizona, discuss how Mexico and the US are cooperating over the Colorado River Delta and talk about the complexities of growing alfalfa in the desert.

Alex Wise 1:51 I'm joined now on Sea Change Radio by John Fleck. He's an author and the director of the Water Resources program at the University of New Mexico. John welcome to Sea Change Radio.

John Fleck 2:01 Thanks so much for having me.

Alex Wise 2:03 So you're in arid New Mexico, where water is something that is not taken for granted and should not be. Give us a little background if you will on your latest book, “Water is For Fighting Over.”

John Fleck 2:15 Yeah, the full title is really important because it's a little bit of a bait and switch. The title is water is for fighting over and other myths of the of water in the West. And there's this old quote that's attributed to Mark Twain that in fact, he probably never said that whiskey is for drinking and water's for fighting over. But in the western United States, that quote is repeated and as believed by people that water is in a place like this, where it is scarce, is a source of conflict and you know, I believe that for a long time in my career as a journalist and only gradually over many, many years of covering water did I begin to realize that while we notice the places where there is conflict over water much more often, there are places where people learn to conserve and to collaborate and share the water and, and they really learn to avoid conflict. And I began to realize,