PHOENIX — The Biden administration released a draft plan that seeks to prop up Colorado River reservoirs in crisis outlining how Western states and tribes could cut their use, including an unprecedented option that would include shared cuts among all users across the watershed.
The plan spells out proposals to modify a 2007 shortage-sharing agreement and will be open for public comment for 45 days. If adopted this summer, it will affect dam releases starting next year.
The Colorado River serves 40 million people across seven states, which span tribal land, and Mexico.
Since 2000, water demand and evaporation have outstripped the river’s flow by about 15%, causing a rapid decline in storage and threatening power production and even the most secure of water rights downstream of Hoover Dam. Federal and state officials in 2007 agreed to a list of reductions that deepen as Lake Mead drops farther against the dam, but so far they have not kept up with the pace of losses.
One option in the new proposal would be more beneficial to California and some tribes along the river that have high-priority rights to the river’s water. The second option is likely to be more favorable to Nevada and Arizona, which share the river’s Lower Basin with California and say it’s time for an approach that more fairly spreads the pain of cuts. That approach would force cuts on a proportional basis when water levels at key reservoirs along the river dip below a certain point.
Federal officials acknowledged that relying solely on either existing legal priorities or on every user’s pro-rata share of the river would create great hardship. They hope to avoid that if states and tribes can mix and match a better set of options.
Officials with the U.S. Interior Department and its Bureau of Reclamation made clear that they view these options as placeholders, “bookends” between which consensus might be reached, while the states and tribes that share the river continue to seek consensus over the spring. The government will gather comments and refine its options by summer.
Speaking at a news conference in front of picture windows with a view of Lake Mead’s “bathtub ring” caused the huge reservoir’s retreat, U.S. Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said the Colorado Basin’s residents and ecosystems require new solutions for unprecedented strains.
“Fundamentally it is one community composed of 40 million people and landscapes that need us to get this right,” she said.
Representatives from the river states said they’re making progress behind the scenes and are gaining confidence that they can reach a deal that does not throw out the old legal priorities or completely cut off cities and others that don’t enjoy the same legal priorities as many farmers.
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Draft plan gives options for saving water
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s vision offers two possible ways of saving 2 million acre-feet of water a year, representing more than 15% of what the shrinking river has replenished to reservoirs in an average year this century. The two options differ substantially in how they dole out those cuts.
One would rely on legal priorities, forcing new usage cuts on some but rewarding those users who staked the earliest claims to the river or gained preference through the legal or political systems over the years. The other is a departure from previous allocation methods, splitting cuts among the three Lower Colorado River Basin states by percentage according to how much they use.
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California holds the largest share — 4.4 million acre-feet — and has the most to lose in this proposal. Arizona is normally entitled to 2.8 million acre-feet but already has given up some water based on its junior rights. Nevada is the other Lower Basin state and has a much smaller allocation, at 300,000 acre-feet.
The four Upper Basin states have not yet developed all the water that was allocated to them. They don’t face cuts in this proposal but still must live within the limits of a river that does not offer as much as negotiators attributed to it in an interstate compact 100 years ago.
If the government chooses a plan to split cuts by percentage among all users, it could have profound effects on farm irrigation districts that traditionally have enjoyed some of the strongest legal rights to the river. Some three-quarters of the river is spread on farm fields.
Federal official: ‘Failure is not an option’
Whichever option Interior Secretary Deb Haaland ultimately chooses, her staff made clear Tuesday that the need for swift action is urgent.
“The Colorado River Basin provides water for more than 40 million Americans,” Beaudreau said in a statement before releasing the draft plan. “It fuels hydropower resources in eight states, supports agriculture and agricultural communities across the West, and is a crucial resource for 30 tribal nations.
“Failure is not an option.”
Cocopah Tribal Vice Chair Rosa Long called on residents throughout the watershed to conserve water in their homes to ensure the river keeps flowing. “Our action today will have a profound impact on the world our children and grandchildren will inherit.”
Long chairs the Ten Tribes Partnership, negotiating on Indigenous communities’ behalf. She noted that the river is more than an economic driver for her people.
“This is where our creation story came from,” she said.
Trying to avoid legal battles over Colorado River water
The states and Interior have sought to protect the river without tripping a legal fight between states or their various water users.
The Bureau of Reclamation plans to rewrite guidelines when they expire in 2026, but last year decided it couldn’t wait that long to impose stricter measures to protect federal dams and their storage. Tuesday’s proposed options are meant as a bridge to keep water in Lake Mead and Lake Powell until 2026.
Imperial board member J.B. Hamby said a plan that makes cuts entirely by percentage rather than using legal priorities would unduly harm California and his district’s farmers. But he said he does not expect it to come to that as the states work towards a consensus.
“We need to come up with something more granular,” he said. “I feel confident that we’re going to be able to work things out.”
In a written statement, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said any outcomes that would decimate the water supply of population centers or force the states into a courtroom are “unacceptable — and we will continue to double down on our efforts to find a consensus path forward.”
Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager John Entsminger said he’s gaining confidence that the parties can reach a deal that would avoid litigation. That’s partly because everyone understands it’s not feasible to cut off the Lower Basin’s cities, he said. He equated such a prospect to “multiple Katrinas,” because it would displace millions just as the 2005 hurricane displaced Gulf Coast residents.
Reservoirs on the Colorado River can give no more
The river has suffered not just from overuse, but from a warming climate. Longer growing seasons and greater heat stress have forced the West’s forests to transpire more water while drying soils have sponged up more of the snowmelt that feeds the river. The result is that even near-normal snowpack like the Rocky Mountains experienced in 2021 can result in far below-average flows into the reservoirs.
Over years, this contributed to a “megadrought” that scientists say is the region’s driest in 1,200 years.
This year’s abundant snowpack appears poised to slow but not reverse the losses.
On average since the drought began in 2000, the river has flowed about 12 million acre-feet a year, and the Bureau of Reclamation has users need to slash use by between 2 million and 4 million acre-feet. Until now, the region has maintained deliveries by draining the reservoirs that had years’ worth of supplies, but they are approaching levels where the stores could give no more.
Besides evaporation and leaks, the six states, including Arizona, proposed accelerating cuts that all accepted in a 2007 agreement, but which are tied to declining storage in Lake Mead. The reservoir hasn’t yet sunk to the point of inflicting harrem on California water users, who take the most and enjoy a high legal priority under previous court and congressional decisions. California water users, including the Imperial district, balked at a plan that cut uses proportionately instead of by legal priority.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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