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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Hugged a River Today? July 25 is Colorado River Day

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Friday, July 25, 2014   

DENVER - The river that supplies water to much of the West and recreation to outdoor lovers has its own holiday. Today is Colorado River Day, and people are celebrating the river and reminding others of its importance to the region.

State Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton, is one of at least 40 elected officials who have signed a pledge calling on Gov. John Hickenlooper and the Colorado Water Conservation Board to take steps to protect and maintain the river.

"It's important to me," Salazar said, "because we have to muster up the coalition and the force to protect the Colorado River, since the Colorado River is so vital to so many industries."

Colorado is in the process of developing a statewide water plan. The pledge is being delivered today to state leadership, asking for greater investment in infrastructure for more efficient water delivery, conserving municipal water use and modernizing water storage systems.

The Colorado River was originally called the Grand River, but was renamed on this date in 1921.

It's about balancing everyone's needs with a goal of making sure there's enough water to go around, said Karn Stiegelmeier, a county commissioner in Summit County, where many of the headwaters for the Colorado River are located.

"To have a future where we have enough water for everyone, for cities as well as for rivers, we need to have high conservation measures in our municipalities," Stiegelmeier said, as well as in the way we develop land in the future."

Salazar said everyone can take steps to protect the Colorado River.

"Try to conserve water as much as possible," he said. "We are in a huge drought period here in the state of Colorado, and it's incumbent upon all of us to conserve water as much as possible."

The Colorado River and its tributaries run through seven states and supply drinking water to 36 million Americans. The river irrigates more than 60 percent of Colorado farmland. According to the Department of the Interior's Colorado River Basin Study, demand on the river's water already exceeds supply, and the need is expected to grow in the next 50 years.

More information is online at coloradoriverday.com.


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