Grand Canyon National Park

Colorado River in the Grand Canyon.

The Colorado River has been a driving force in the population growth in the Southwest over the decades. Without it, there may not be enough water to sustain extremely dry areas, which have become drier, thanks to extended periods of drought.

A lawsuit recently filed in a federal court in Colorado wants to help preserve the river by recognizing it as a person with a number of legal rights that it doesn’t currently have as a body of water.

To learn more about how far-reaching the case could be, I’m joined by Rhett Larson. He is an associate law professor at ASU and a Senior Research Fellow at the Kyl Center for Water Policy.