Overview
- Amazon announced the new Colorado River Basin Collaborative and pledged $20 million on Monday to help mobilize $100 million over two years for rapid water‑saving projects.
- So far participating companies have committed $32 million toward the coalition’s $100 million target and the effort will deploy funding into vetted projects through 2028.
- Amazon is already funding a $2.2 million Orange County leak‑detection and repair program expected to save about 189 million gallons per year and a $2.4 million Arable irrigation sensor project on tribal farmland estimated to save about 238 million gallons per year.
- Each company will contract directly with vetted project teams rather than pool funds, and the Water Resilience Coalition (part of the Pacific Institute) will run daily vetting, track results, and onboard new funders.
- The announcement responds to a long regional drought, reservoirs below historic levels and recent federal mandates cutting Lower Basin water allocations, a shift that has raised legal and political disputes and increased pressure on communities and farms that rely on the river.