The Colorado River Water Users Association (CRWUA) Board of Trustees elected John J. Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA), to serve as the organization’s president for the next two-year term (2020-2021). As SNWA general manager, Entsminger oversees the operations of the wholesale water agency responsible for managing and treating drinking water supplies for Southern Nevada’s 2.2 million residents and 43 million annual visitors, as well as implementing Southern Nevada’s progressive and comprehensive water conservation program
“With the Colorado River continuing to face challenges imposed by the decades-long drought and climate change, CRWUA serves a critical role in fostering collaboration and cooperation among the seven states and two countries that share the river,” Entsminger said. “While we’ve made great strides in the past 20 years, our commitment to collaboratively developing and implementing innovative solutions to protect the river and those that depend on it remains paramount.”
CRWUA is comprised of more than 1,000 members representing the interests of the Seven Basin States, (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming), the Republic of Mexico, Native American tribes, United States federal government and other non-governmental organizations. Its members work to achieve consensus on major issues affecting the Colorado River, which serves more than 40 million people.
Before his appointment as SNWA general manager in 2014, Entsminger served as director of environmental and water resource law and senior deputy general manager. Entsminger is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Colorado School of Law, where he was awarded the Charles N. Woodruff Natural Resources Law Fellowship.