US plan for Colorado River could cut up to 40% supply for Arizona, California and Nevada | West Coast
The U.S. government has proposed a plan for the drought-stricken Colorado River that could cut current supplies to Arizona, California and Nevada by up to 40% as the waterway’s reservoirs continue to plunge to critically low levels.
A top Arizona water official shared details of the Trump administration’s plan during a state meeting Wednesday.
Under the 10-year plan, which will be finalized in June, the annual amount of water delivered to Arizona, California and Nevada could be reduced by up to 3 million acre-feet, according to Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. Reductions would be evaluated every two years.
Three million acre-feet of water is enough to supply 6 to 9 million homes for a year, more than the number of homes in Arizona and Nevada.
Buschatzke said the federal plan would be implemented either under existing Colorado River law or through agreements between states. He said federal officials have indicated that water cuts among the three lower basin states will be based on “river law priority.” This law, the Colorado River Compact of 1922, gives California the highest priority in water use.
Buschatzke called the proposed federal cuts “sobering.”
“It’s us, it’s Arizona, and potentially the CAP going to zero,” Buschatzke said, referring to water flows from the Central Arizona Project, a canal that carries water from the Colorado River to central and southern Arizona.
The Colorado River supplies water to some 40 million people in the American West. The plan comes months after the seven states that rely on dwindling supplies from the river failed to meet a February federal deadline to agree on how water cuts would be distributed. The river has lost about 27.8 million acre-feet of groundwater over the past 20 years, largely due to overexploitation. A record snow drought this year has made the problem even worse.
The upper river basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico have resisted water reductions. The states argue that those downstream, California, Arizona and Nevada, are responsible for water shortages and therefore should bear the burden of reductions.
Doug Burgum, the US Secretary of the Interior, indicated earlier this year that the US Bureau of Reclamation would step in to manage the protracted conflict.
Two weeks ago, California, Arizona and Nevada announced their own proposal to voluntarily reduce water by up to 3.25 million acre-feet through 2028. Under their offer, Arizona’s water flow would be reduced by 760 acre-feet, California’s by 440 acre-feet, and Nevada’s by 50 acre-feet.
However, it is unclear whether the states’ plan will come to fruition, and it will still require cooperation from state and federal water agencies. Alex Smith, an employee with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Phoenix office, told AZ Central the agency is weighing the risks and benefits of the Lower Basin states’ plan.
In public comment Wednesday, Patrick Adams, senior water policy adviser to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobb, said “things are moving very quickly,” referring to the federal government’s proposal.
“The risk of a reduction of just 3 million acre-feet in the lower basin is something that we’re quite concerned about, so we need to address it,” he said.
Reuters contributed to this report
