A gathering organized by the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter took place on Oct. 27 at Gateway Park along the Colorado River in Yuma, where environmentalists and Democratic officials highlighted mounting threats to the river’s flows and urged federal action to protect water supplies and reduce emissions. The event, described in local reporting and a campaign video posted the same day, focused on the river’s central role in sustaining Yuma County agriculture and nearby communities as drought and climate change tighten supplies.

Speakers at the rally included Adelita Grijalva, Democratic U.S. Representative-elect for Arizona; Sandy Bahr, director of the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter; Lizeth Sevin, San Luis city councilmember; Cary Meister, leader of the Sierra Club Colorado River Task Force and Yuma resident; and Mariana Sandoval, state representative for parts of southern Arizona. Organizers pressed for preservation of existing EPA greenhouse-gas rules and an accelerated shift to renewable energy, and warned that potential federal rollbacks or cuts to clean-energy incentives could worsen stress on river-dependent systems and reservoirs such as Lakes Mead and Powell.

Local reporting and a Facebook video posted by Grijalva’s campaign confirmed the event and its themes; attendance was described only as “a handful” in available sources. The Sierra Club framed the action as community advocacy aimed at federal policymakers, particularly as federal water-sharing guidelines for 2026 are expected to influence allocations from the Colorado River basin.

The stakes are economic as well as environmental for Yuma County. The Colorado River supplies irrigation water that underpins a large share of the region’s agriculture, which employs thousands and produces a significant portion of the nation’s winter vegetables. Continued reductions in river flows could translate into tighter water allocations for growers, potential job losses in agricultural and related sectors, upward pressure on fresh produce prices, and more acute water access challenges for border communities such as San Luis.

The rally’s timing also intersects with national policy debates. Organizers warned that weakening federal climate and clean-energy measures would leave the region more exposed to long-term drought trends and declining reservoir levels, increasing the probability of tighter water restrictions that would ripple through Yuma’s farm economy. Participants framed the effort as part of broader advocacy to keep federal rules that limit greenhouse-gas emissions in place and to push for policies that support renewable-energy deployment and water resiliency.

Reporting to date confirms the event through coverage by KYMA and azcentral and the campaign video posted Oct. 27. Organizers did not release detailed attendance figures or specific follow-up actions at the time of the rally. Local leaders and analysts will be watching the federal water-sharing guidance for 2026 and any subsequent policy moves that influence allocations and incentives, as those decisions will carry direct economic implications for irrigation-dependent growers, agricultural workers and municipal water users across Yuma County.