Rachel Mercer

Western Water Policy EditorWest Region

rachel@water-restrictions.com

Rachel Mercer covers water policy and drought restrictions across the Western United States for Water Restrictions. Her beat spans 13 states from the Colorado River basin through the Pacific Northwest — including the most water-stressed cities in the country. She tracks SRP and CAP allocations in Arizona, Denver Water's drought stages in Colorado, SNWA enforcement in Las Vegas, and MWD supply decisions in California. Before joining Water Restrictions, Rachel spent six years reporting on Western water rights and interstate compact negotiations. She holds a degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Colorado Boulder. Rachel is based in Denver and monitors snowpack data, reservoir storage levels, and USDM drought maps weekly to keep city pages current. When she's not tracking restriction changes, she's hiking Front Range trails and checking stream flows firsthand.