Water has literally shaped the West. It carved Colorado from red rock and shaped landmarks from the Rocky Mountains to the Grand Canyon to the Gulf of California. Water has etched green and fertile valleys into the desert and sustained generations of hardworking families throughout the Southwest. Water is what makes the West as we know it possible — from our ski resorts in places like Vail and Powderhorn to the orchards of Palisade to our cities like Gunnison and Steamboat Springs.

The Colorado River is healthy now, but make no mistake: the Centennial State and the six states downriver are on an unsustainable course.

As former Congressman Wayne Aspinall used to say, “In the West, when you touch water, you touch everything.”

Read the rest of Senator Udall's Guest Opinion in the Post Independent.