The US government released its long-awaited plan for managing the Colorado River crisis on Friday, outlining deep cuts to water supplied to California, Arizona and Nevada. The proposal from the US Bureau of Reclamation spares Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming from mandatory reductions, for now, but officials and experts describe it as a temporary fix for a river system in crisis.
Under the 10-year framework, the Lower Basin states could face cuts of up to 3 million acre-feet a year, as much as 40 percent of their collective total, according to the Department of the Interior. That is roughly enough water to serve more than 25 million people annually.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the framework “provides the flexibility to respond to changing hydrologic conditions while preserving the opportunity for the Basin States to continue working toward durable, consensus-based solutions.”
The plan is the federal government’s answer to a years-long stalemate among the seven basin states, and it arrives just months before the current operating rules are set to expire. It would allow annual releases of between 5 million and 12 million acre-feet from Lake Powell, the basin’s second-largest reservoir, with water management decisions made every two years under the framework.
The two largest reservoirs on the river, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, have already sunk to record lows, and experts say the system is unlikely to recover even with a wet winter. The reservoirs generate hydroelectric power for millions of customers and anchor water supplies for cities and farms across the arid West, which makes the new cuts a high-stakes test for the region’s economy.
Arizona, which faces the steepest reductions under the plan, has called the proposal “unacceptable,” while Nevada officials warned of the deepest cuts in state history. The Bureau of Reclamation is expected to release a record of decision in the coming week detailing operations under the plan in the short term, likely following an earlier proposal by the Lower Basin states to shave 3.2 million acre-feet from their combined use over 2027 and 2028.
The Colorado River supplies water to roughly 40 million people across seven US states and Mexico, and the new federal framework is set to shape the future of the drought-stricken region through 2036, when the current agreement cycle ends. The river has been over-allocated for decades, and climate change has sharply reduced the snowpack that feeds it, forcing federal officials to step in after repeated failures by the states to agree on how to share the pain of shrinking supplies.
Sources: The Guardian, ABC News
Author: USA Desk
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