Amazon launches collaborative initiative to fund Colorado River Basin water projects

Amazon has launched the Colorado River Basin Collaborative to fund water projects across the basin and is encouraging other organizations to join.

The goal is to raise $100 million over the next two years.

So far, organizations have raised a total of $32 million, including Amazon’s $20 million donation.

Will Hewes, Amazon’s water sustainability lead, said no single company can solve the Colorado River water shortage alone — it will take an industrywide effort.

After 25 years of megadrought, the river’s largest reservoirs are below 30% of capacity and the gap between supply and demand is roughly 1 trillion gallons per year, according to an Amazon press release.

Hewes told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Thursday that the river is essential.

“Forty million people rely on it, over 5 million acres of farmland are irrigated with it. It is essential to supporting communities,” he said.

Amazon invests in Arizona project to reduce agricultural water use

Amazon is also investing $2.4 million in an Arizona irrigation efficiency project with agricultural technology company Arable. The project involves an irrigation management tool for tribal farmland in the Lower Colorado River Basin.

The tool can help reduce water use by about 20%.

“There’s technology out there that can measure the moisture in the soil and using a whole bunch of crop science to tell you, ‘Here’s exactly when you should be irrigating and how much.’ And so that really reduces the risk of overwatering,” Hewes said.

The project uses Amazon Web Services-powered sensors that give farmers real-time data on when their crops need water. It is expected to save 238 million gallons of water per year.

The Water Resilience Coalition will vet projects, track results and bring in new funders.

“This is an effort to bring together funding from the private sector to help address the challenges in the Colorado River Basin, with the growing scarcity and imbalance between the need for water and available supply,” Hewes said.

Amazon has business operations and customers throughout the basin and is making an effort to be a good water steward in the areas where it operates.

Related

Election-year backlash clogs Scottsdale’s water recycling planWith Colorado River cuts looming, Peoria commits $104 million to bolster water supplyAs Arizona monsoon season winds down, all eyes turn toward El NiñoASU gets $2M federal grant to develop water reuse tech for semiconductor manufacturingUpper Verde River on verge of earning state’s highest water quality protection levelWoman running 2,000 miles in 100 days to sound alarm about Colorado River water crisis