A major step forward for the Colorado River is now in motion.
Photo Courtesy of The Colorado River District
On May 22, the Department of the Interior released $40 million in federal funding to the Colorado River District for the Shoshone Water Rights Preservation Project. The funding brings the River District to $97 million of the $99 million needed to purchase and permanently protect the water rights tied to the Shoshone Hydropower Plant in Glenwood Canyon.
For Colorado’s rivers, Western Slope communities, agricultural producers, recreation economies, and everyone who depends on the Colorado River, this is a significant milestone.
The Shoshone water rights are some of the largest and most senior non-consumptive water rights on the Colorado River. They include senior 1902 and junior 1929 rights that have long helped maintain flows through Glenwood Canyon and downstream communities. Because the water used for hydropower returns to the river, the rights have helped support river flows that benefit agriculture, local economies, recreation, aquatic habitat, and the coldwater conditions wild and native trout need.
Colorado Trout Unlimited has long supported the effort to permanently protect the Shoshone water rights because this project is about more than one stretch of river. It is about long-term water security for Colorado’s namesake river and the communities, ecosystems, and future generations that rely on it.
In 2023, the Colorado River District entered into an agreement with Public Service Company of Colorado, a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, to purchase the Shoshone water rights for $99 million. One of the major conditions of that agreement was securing the funding needed to complete the purchase. With the release of this federal award, that goal is now nearly complete.
Another major step came in November 2025, when the Colorado Water Conservation Board unanimously approved accepting the Shoshone water rights into the state’s instream flow program. That approval was a critical milestone in the broader effort to allow the rights to continue supporting hydropower production while also protecting flows in the Colorado River.
Important work remains. The project now moves into the contracting phase, where the Colorado River District will work with the Bureau of Reclamation to finalize the terms of the federal award. The River District, the Colorado Water Conservation Board, and Public Service Company of Colorado have also filed in Colorado water court for a change of water rights that would add instream flow use to the Shoshone rights while allowing continued hydropower production. The transaction must also receive approval from the Colorado Public Utilities Commission before it can close.
Shoshone Dam, seen here on August 13, 2021, near Glenwood Springs, generates electricity through its turbines on the Colorado River. The dam and power plant near the Hanging Lake parking area was constructed in the early 1900s. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
The Shoshone Water Rights Preservation Coalition includes more than 100 water providers, local governments, regional entities, conservation groups, the State of Colorado, and bipartisan elected officials. That broad support reflects what makes this project so important: it brings together diverse interests around a shared commitment to the future of the Colorado River.
Protecting Shoshone is one of the most meaningful river conservation opportunities in Colorado. It helps preserve historic flows, strengthens resilience in a changing climate, and supports the health of the Colorado River from the Western Slope downstream.
For Colorado TU, this moment is a reminder that durable conservation takes partnership, persistence, and a shared belief that healthy rivers matter to all of us.
