Courtesy Luke Runyon

This year is the 100th anniversary of the Colorado River Compact, an agreement between seven western states that determines how the river’s water is shared. To celebrate, we talked to reporter Luke Runyon, who covered the Colorado River extensively as a reporter for KUNC, a public radio station based in Greeley, Colorado.

Luke takes us behind the scenes of his 1,400 mile trip from a cattle ranch in western Colorado to the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation in southwest Arizona—completed in 10 days—and reflects on what he saw as well as the future of the Colorado River. He also touches on negotiations over how the river’s water is shared between states and tribes that began in 2021 and are set to conclude in an update to the Colorado River Compact in 2026.

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