Wyoming SEO opens new voluntary water conservation program
by Joy Ufford
May 30, 2026
Holders of valid water rights from the Green River, the Little Snake River and its tributaries, within Wyoming’s portion of the Colorado River Basin, will be eligible to apply to the recently enacted Voluntary Water Conservation Program Act.
Irrigation, livestock, agricultural, industrial and municipal water rights are some beneficial uses where incentives could help rights holders find ways to use less water and send more water into storage and downstream in the voluntary program.
The Wyoming State Engineer’s Office (SEO) has set up three public meetings in Pinedale, Lyman and Baggs in June to provide more detailed information about the voluntary program. Wyoming law prohibits mandating water distribution, except for the direst situation and with ongoing drought that continues to threaten and worsen shortfalls throughout the Colorado River Basin and its tributaries.
Wyoming cannot mandate broad cuts on senior water rights holders who have beneficial uses for the water. If users do not use their water and send it downstream, however, they risk losing their long-held rights. Wyoming water conservation projects must be voluntary and state administered. This "foundational policy" conflicts with federal calls for mandatory curtailment.
The past winter brought lower than average snowpack and snow-water equivalent across much of western Wyoming. Warmer than usual weather has quickly thawed respectable snowpacks, swelling streams and creeks with early spring runoff.
On May 18, Wyoming NRCS’s 23rd Snow Report for Water Year 2025-2026 (snow season) reported: "Currently the state’s SNOTELs are reading 33 percent of median with a basin high of 74 percent and a basin low of 3 percent. Last year the state was at 69 percent, and at 103 percent
in 2024. The map may differ slightly from the table depending upon how many stations were reporting at the time."
The Upper Green River Basin’s snow-water equivalent was 79 percent on May 18, 2025, compared to 32 percent on May 18. The Lower Green, measured at 67 percent in May 2025, has dropped to 29 percent this year. The Little Snake, which enjoyed 114 percent SWE on May 18, 2025, is now at 25 percent.
The Wyoming Legislature finalized this new Select Water Committee-sponsored legislation, the Voluntary Water Conservation Act Program, which took effect on March 7 during the 2026 budget session. Introduced as Senate File 84, the bill fleshes out how the state would administer the program in Enrolled Act 62.
"AN ACT relating to water within Wyoming's portion of the Colorado River basin; establishing a voluntary water conservation program; providing an application and approval process for the program; providing an appeal process; authorizing the storage and release of water conserved under the program; establishing a sunset date; providing legislative findings; requiring a report; requiring rulemaking; authorizing positions; providing an appropriation; and providing for an effective date."
It defines "the Colorado River Basin" as outlined in the Colorado River Basin Compact of November 1922 among the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming for the purpose of reducing domestic or agricultural consumptive use "or helps satisfy Wyoming's interstate compact obligations through interstate agreements or otherwise."
The Act details which water rights may be applicable, how to apply to the SEO, and how to address potential adverse effects to other water rights holders. The SEO can refuse any application if the proposed conservation project "that appears to be detrimental to the public interest or that appears to provide for or aid in the interstate marketing of water." It very specific ally addresses diversions, appeals and timing for program participation. It places strong focus on water storage at Fontenelle Reservoir "and other reservoirs located within Wyoming’s portion of the Colorado River basin and assess their suitability for the storage of water conserved under the program.
The Wyoming Legislature appropriated $510,000 from the General Fund to fund new positions and implement the SEO program through June 30, 2028.
For more information about the SEO’s Colorado River Voluntary Water Conservation Program, go to https://seo.wyo.gov/home/colorado-river-voluntary-water-conservation-program or email Wyoming Deputy State Engineer Jack Morey at jack.morey2@wyo.gov.
Public meetings:
The public can get more information about the water conservation program at three meetings in Pinedale, Lyman and Baggs.
• Pinedale: June 17, 2-5 p.m. at the Sublette County School District Administration Building, 666 N. Tyler Ave., Pinedale WY 82941.
• Lyman: June 18, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., at the Lyman High School Auditorium, 1305 E. Clark St., Lyman, WY 82937.
• Baggs: June 22, 1-4 p.m., at the Valley Community Center, 255 W. Osborne St., Baggs, WY 82321.
Background
Past water conservation pilot projects in the Upper and Lower Colorado River basins, including participating Green River ranchers and farmers, resulted in water "savings" with participating water-rights holders compensated by state and federal funds, with incentives of varying amounts paid per acre-foot conserved.
In its 2024 annual report, the Colorado River Water Users Association reported that Wyoming and others implemented "the voluntary, temporary and compensated" System Conservation Pilot Program for several years with plans to continue similar conservation activities.
As an example, in 2023, Wyoming hosted 21 water conservation projects – 19 of them irrigation, one municipal and one industrial – that "conserved an estimated 16,000 acre-feet of water."
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