Watershed

Watershed

Thursday, April 19, 2012 - 6:30pm to 7:30pm
  • Library Hall

Exploring a new water ethic for the new West.

Bud Werner Memorial Library,  Colorado Environmental Coalition and The Wilderness Society celebrate Colorado Water 2012 with a new film directed by award-winning filmmaker Mark Decena and narrated by Robert Redford.

Watershed tells the story of the threats to the once-mighty Colorado River and offers solutions for the future of the American West.

As the most dammed, dibbed, and diverted river in the world struggles to support thirty million people and the peace-keeping agreement known as the Colorado River Pact reaches its limits, Watershed introduces hope.

Can we meet the needs of a growing population in the face of rising temperatures and lower rainfall in an already arid land? Can we find harmony amongst the competing interests of cities, agriculture, industry, recreation, wildlife, and indigenous communities with rights to the water?

Sweeping through seven U.S. and two Mexican states, the Colorado River is a lifeline to expanding populations and booming urban centers that demand water for drinking, sanitation and energy generation. And with 70% of the rivers’ water supporting agriculture, the river already runs dry before it reaches its natural end at the Gulf of California. Unless action is taken, the river will continue its retreat – a potentially catastrophic scenario for the millions who depend on it.

In Watershed, we meet Jeff Ehlert, a fly fishing guide in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado rancher Dan James, Delta restoration worker Edith Santiago, Navajo Council member Glojean Todacheene, Rifle Colorado Mayor Keith Lambert, Los Angeles native Jimmy Lizama and a group of Outward Bound teens rafting down the Colorado River as they all reflect a compelling new water ethic—one that illuminates how letting go of the ways of old can lead to a path of coexisting with enough for all.

The Redford Center created Watershed as a inspirational social action tool for people who want to engage. Promoting personal water conservation pledges of 5% – symbolic of the small amount of the rivers’ flow required to reconnect the river to its delta – and garnering donations to help purchase the water rights necessary to restore the connectivity, Watershed is a central tool in a larger grassroots effort focused on saving the Colorado River and supporting the communities throughout the river basin.

Run time: 55 min.
Produced by the Redford Center and Kontent Films.


About the Colorado Environmental Coalition
Colorado Environmental Coalition is the largest state-based citizens' group committed to conserving our clean air, water and open spaces. CEC works to protect Colorado's environment by educating and mobilizing citizens, providing technical and organizing assistance to environmental organizations and other allies, and uniting and supporting them in coalitions that defend and preserve Colorado's natural heritage and quality of life.

The Wilderness Society's mission is to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places.

About Colorado Water 2012
In January 2012 Colorado's Governor John W. Hickenlooper declared this The Year of Water. The mission of Colorado Water 2012 is to engage Coloradans in a statewide celebration of water: past, present, and future and to celebrate our unique heritage as a headwaters state and understand the diverse uses and values of this precious resource. Colorado Water 2012 celebrates the water we have today as we plan for the future.