Three states have proposed a plan to voluntarily use less water from the Colorado River for the next three years, a move that is either a proactive step toward sustainability or a desperate bid to kick the can down the road, depending on how much of a glass-half-empty person you are. The Colorado River provides water to some 40 million people in the American west, which is a lot of people to have relying on a river that keeps shrinking because of consistent overdrawing, reduced snowpack, and climate change. The two massive reservoirs filled by the river, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, currently sit at historically low levels, which is a polite way of saying they are basically giant bathtubs with the drain open and the tap barely dripping.
The lower basin states' plan would save 3.2m acre-feet of water through voluntary cutbacks through 2028, plus an additional 700,000 acre-feet through conservation measures and infrastructure improvement. It also includes the creation of a conservation pool to ensure the federal government meets its trust obligations to tribes in Arizona, because apparently that needed to be spelled out. “With this proposal, the Lower Basin is putting forth real action to stabilize water supply along the Colorado River,” said JB Hamby, chair of California’s Colorado River Board, in a statement that sounded optimistic but probably should have been delivered through a clenched jaw. “We’re putting forward additional measurable water contributions for the system. Without that, the system will continue to decline.”
The proposed plan still requires approval from the states’ water agencies and the Arizona legislature, as well as cooperation from the federal government, because nothing says “urgent action” like multiple layers of bureaucratic sign-off. The states said the plan was “structured as a unified package” that should be implemented or rejected in full, rather than piecemeal, which is a fancy way of saying it’s all or nothing, folks. The seven states with legal rights to Colorado River water remain stuck at an impasse over how to divvy up drastic cuts to water usage. The northern basin states of New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming have tried to push most of the burden onto the southern basin states, arguing they draw the most water from Lake Mead and Lake Powell. The southern basin states have countered that all states should shoulder some of the responsibility, which is the diplomatic equivalent of “no, you.”
Pressure on water from the Colorado River is expected to grow after several western states saw record-breaking heat this winter. As of 1 April, snowpack in the upper Colorado River basin stood at 23% of the historical median, according to the New York Times, which is about as encouraging as a snowflake in a frying pan. In addition to the seven states with legal rights, dozens of tribes also have water rights, though many of those rights remain unquantified and difficult to access, because of course they are.