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With climate change and drought threatening water supplies across the West, farmers and ranchers are working with scientists to avoid a "nightmare scenario" in which cities and suburbs lose access to water supplies.
Politico magazine profiles Paul Bruchez, a fifth generation rancher near Kremmling, Colorado, who is part of an effort to study "demand management," in which farmers and ranchers would be paid to stop using their water allocations. Bruchez is working with scientists from Colorado State University to study how much water is saved when high-altitude alfalfa meadows are left unirrigated for half a season.
In an encouraging sign, nine ranchers agreed to participate in the study—a drastic change in attitudes in just a few years.
“I am blown away. I’ve never seen anything like this in 10 years of doing this kind of work. I’ve just never seen anyone able to rally people together this way,” CSU scientist Perry Cabot told Politico.
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This is the QAnon of water projects, meaning it's laughably infeasible and just not real. And yet, the hardcore supporters just won't let it die.”
