On Tuesday, August 15, 2023, the State of Colorado provided official comments to the Department of Interior regarding future Lake Powell and Lake Mead operating guidelines, as part of the process to develop Post-2026 Guidelines for the operations of Lakes Powell and Mead. Colorado River negotiations and challenges continue to be a hot button issue—Bizwest and Colorado Sun interviewed CWCB staff as well as Commissioner Mitchell for insight. And the CWCB and UCRC presented lessons learned from the System Conservation Pilot Program.

On August 22, the kickoff day of Water Congress, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and the Colorado Water Conservation Board announced that Lauren Ris had been selected as the next Director of the CWCB. Ris has been the Deputy Director of the agency since 2017–and as a water policy expert who is passionate about solution-focused water resilience in the state, was the clear choice for the role. Several news outlets covered the announcement: KUNC radio, Colorado Sun, Fresh Water News, The Gazette, and Colorado Politics released both an announcement and Q&A piece with Lauren.