Colorado River at Glen Canyon
RACHEL BECKER
CAL MATTERS
Wet weather and planned cuts by California, Arizona and Nevada averted declines that could have threatened water deliveries and power production — but long-term threats to the Colorado River remain.
California, Nevada and Arizona’s historic pact to cut their use of the Colorado River’s overtapped supplies should be enough to keep the basin’s massive reservoirs from hitting dangerously low levels — for now, a federal analysis reported today.
With the release of its revised environmental assessment today, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is poised to move forward with the three-state plan to give up about 13% of water they receive from the Colorado River through the end of 2026. Next comes 45 days of public comment on the assessment, which is expected to be finalized in early 2024.
At stake is a water supply for 40 million people, seven states, 30 federally recognized Tribal Nations, and 5.5 million acres of agriculture. A combination of an ample Rocky Mountain snowpack, wet weather and the states’ planned cuts averted imminent declines that could have threatened water deliveries and power production, federal officials say. But they warned that long-term threats to the vital supply remain.
“The Colorado River Basin’s reservoirs, including its two largest storage reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, remain at historically low levels,” U.S. Bureau of Reclamation commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said in a statement. “Today’s advancement protects the system in the near-term while we continue to develop long-term, sustainable plans to combat the climate-driven realities facing the Basin.”
It’s a major milestone for fraught negotiations that began in the summer of 2022, as a megadrought parched the already-overdrafted Colorado River and federal officials called for massive cuts to water use.
The Colorado River basin states squared off. Deadlines came and went, the states failed to cut a deal, the federal government threatened its own cuts, and a wet winter granted a temporary reprieve to a vital water source in crisis.
In May of 2023, California, Nevada and Arizona reached an agreement: Together, they would cut their water use by at least 3 million acre-feet through the end of 2026 in exchange for compensation for farmers and other water users. It’s enough water to supply 9 million households for a year.
