While it’s easy to get caught up in the climate wars rhetoric about the Colorado River, and the effect of anthropogenic warming on the river’s flows, it’s important to remember that’s only one of the variables changing in my region’s water future:

With population growth pushing up Colorado River Basin water demand as climate change pushes down supply, New Mexico and the other states that depend on the river face a growing gap between how much water nature provides and how much humans want to use.

New Mexico’s population that uses the river’s water, currently nearly 1.5 million people, is expected to grow to between 2 million and 3 million by 2060, according to the latest data from a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation study.