Unanimously approved by the City Council on May 31,a move reduces the city’s typical Colorado River allocation by 30% for 2023 .|| Photo: Aerial view Water Canyon Colorado River
Taylor Seely
Arizona Republic
Phoenix will leave 150,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead and Lake Powell over the next three years as part of a multi-state effort to protect the Colorado River, whose water levels have dropped to dangerously low levels after decades of severe regional drought.
The move, unanimously approved by the City Council on May 31, reduces the city’s typical Colorado River allocation by 30% for 2023 and adds to a 9,300 acre-feet reduction already enacted as a result of the state’s drought contingency plan. Phoenix will receive $60 million in exchange for leaving the water in the lakes.
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In voting, the council ratified an agreement to implement the Lower Colorado Conservation and Efficiency Program. The agreement was struck with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the Colorado River, and with the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, which delivers river water to Arizona.
An acre-foot is a metric term used to measure volumes of water on a large scale. It represents one foot of water, in terms of depth, spread across one acre. It’s enough to supply all the water needs of three typical Phoenix households in a year.
