Watering the West: A Documentary Trilogy enlightens audiences about water issues in the American West: past, present, and future, including where the water comes from, where it goes and how it gets there, the unique nature of western water law and its origins, and how growing populations and a changing climate will impact a diverse group of water users that rely on the rivers that deliver the mountain snow melt that makes the American West habitable. Through personal stories from city planners, farmers and ranchers, recreators and ecologists, beer brewers and the oil and gas industry, we will explore trans mountain and local diversions; storage projects and farms; water court and water auctions, a Day in the Life of a Ditch Rider; backcountry Wild and Scene River explorations; and the listening sessions, council meetings and forums where opinions divide neighbors, towns, and industry leaders. Watering the West will also introduce us to the people and programs that aim for listening, connection, and cooperation, to those who seek to replace divisiveness with collaboration as the American West moves into a future of increasingly scarce water supplies. From past to present with a 1986 re-enactment of a water broker purchasing a farm with water rights to secure water for the City of Thornton to a song which teaches the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation, WATERING the WEST educates, entertains and presents a case for cooperation around one of the most pressing issues of our time.
Some of the Watering the West Characters:
Retired Colorado Supreme Court Justice Gregory Hobbs; Chairman of the Board, Greeley Water & Sewer, Harold Evans; CSU Doctor of Fluvial Geomorphology, Ellen Wohl; CSU Doctor of Atmospheric Science, Scott Denning; Director of City of Fort Collins Natural Areas, John Stokes; Sustainability Coordinator, New Belgium Brewing Company, Katie Wallace; Developer, Dino D’Trulio; Northern Water Conservation District, Brian Werner; Western Slope 4th generation rancher, Chris Sammons; Ranchers, Ladder Ranch, Pat and Sharon O’Toole; 1980s Thornton City Council Member, Richard Reeser; Sangre de Cristo Acequia Association, Shirley Romero Otero; General Manager at New Cache la Poudre Irrigating Company, Dale Trowbridge; Water Broker, Bruce Johnson; Ditch Riders, Ed Wendell & John Moen; Poudre River Water Commissioner, Mark Simpson; Director, Colorado Forest Restoration Institute at Colorado State University, Tony Cheng; Professor of Snow Hydrology, Dr. Steven Fassnacht; AND SO MANY MORE.