Amazon Pledges $20 Million to Colorado River Conservation Effort
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Amazon has pledged $20 million to a new coalition seeking to fund water conservation projects across the Colorado River Basin, the company announced Sept. 21.
The Colorado River Basin Collaborative aims to secure $100 million in commitments over two years. Participating companies have committed more than $32 million so far, including Amazon’s pledge. Other participants include Aldi, The Coca-Cola Foundation, Ecolab, EdgeConneX, Grundfos, Vantage and Xylem.
The initiative comes as prolonged drought and water demand strain the river, which supplies communities, farms and tribal nations across seven U.S. states and Mexico. Amazon estimates the basin’s annual gap between water supply and demand at roughly 1 trillion gallons.
Companies participating in the collaborative will contract independently with conservation projects. The Water Resilience Coalition, part of the Pacific Institute, will vet projects, track results and recruit additional funders, according to Amazon. The effort is also backed by the Climate Pledge, a corporate initiative to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040.
Amazon said it is providing $2.2 million over three years to expand water leak detection and repairs in Orange County, California. Once fully implemented, the project is expected to save more than 189 million gallons annually, according to the company.
Amazon is putting $2.4 million into an irrigation project on tribal farmland in the Lower Colorado River Basin, where water shortages have strained farms and communities. Working with agricultural technology company Arable, Amazon will use sensors powered by Amazon Web Services to show farmers when crops need water. The company projects the work could cut withdrawals from Lake Mead and save about 238 million gallons a year. Across the broader effort, companies will fund projects directly, while the Water Resilience Coalition vets them and tracks results. Other potential projects include lining canals and fixing city water leaks.
The Colorado River effort is part of Amazon’s broader water conservation work. The company also announced a forest restoration project in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture with the Chiba Prefecture Forestry Association. Amazon said the project will thin trees across 250 hectares upstream of the Yoro River and, once complete, is expected to increase water available to local communities by more than 170 million liters a year. A separate project announced in 2025 in Yamanashi Prefecture is projected to return more than 130 million liters annually. Both figures are estimates.
