The second episode of the GWI Global Water Matters podcast features Anne Castle ('81), member of the Water Policy Group and senior fellow at the GWC. In conversation with producer Gretchen Miller, Castle discusses the management and future of the over-allocated Colorado River Basin, its many competing interests, her personal experiences with the river, and what it was like to meet Barack Obama during her time as assistant secretary for water and science at the U.S Department of Interior.
Castle is a senior fellow at the Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment at the University of Colorado Law School, focusing on western water policy issues. From 2009 to 2014, she was assistant secretary for water and science at the U.S. Department of the Interior where she oversaw water and science policy for the department and had responsibility for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Survey. While at Interior, Castle spearheaded the department’s WaterSMART program, which provides federal leadership on the path toward sustainable water supplies, and was the driving force behind the 2010 federal MOU addressing sustainable hydropower. Castle also provided hands-on leadership on Colorado River issues and was the chair of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group and a champion of Minute 319 between the U.S. and Mexico. Castle is a recovering lawyer, having practiced water law for 28 years with the Rocky Mountain law firm of Holland & Hart.