Palo Verde Valley
Business Wire
Seizing every opportunity to use Colorado River resources as efficiently and effectively as possible and to help slow Lake Mead’s declining levels, water agencies across the Southwest are partnering with the federal government to fund a short-term agricultural land fallowing program in California that will conserve water on a large scale.
“Reclamation welcomes this collaborative effort to conserve water in Lake Mead”
The partnership among the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Central Arizona Project, Southern Nevada Water Authority, and Palo Verde Irrigation District is expected to conserve up to 180,000 acre-feet of water over the next three years, amounting to about a 3-foot increase in Lake Mead’s water level.
“Reclamation welcomes this collaborative effort to conserve water in Lake Mead,” said Bureau of Reclamation Lower Colorado Basin Regional Director Jacklynn Gould. “Working with our partners, we can reduce the risk of the reservoir declining to critical levels.”
Under an agreement finalized last week, Reclamation will fund half of the program’s total costs of about $38 million, while Metropolitan, CAP and Southern Nevada will share the remaining costs equally, each providing about $6.3 million.
