The federal government has finalized a new plan for managing the shrinking Colorado River, ordering water cuts for three Western states while seeking cooperation from four others. The Department of the Interior (DOI) said the new operating guidelines will reduce Colorado River deliveries to Arizona, California and Nevada by a combined 1.25 million acre-feet a year in 2027 and 2028. The plan is designed to protect the river system and keep critical reservoirs and infrastructure operating as drought continues to push water levels to historic lows.
The Colorado River supplies water to more than 35 million people across seven US states and Mexico and supports major agricultural regions and hydroelectric power generation. Newsweek contacted the DOI via email on Saturday for comment. If the three Lower Basin states implement the water-sharing agreement they proposed earlier this year, Arizona will take the largest reduction at 760,000 acre-feet a year, as reported by ABC News.
That is about 27.1 percent of Arizona’s basic 2.8 million acre-foot Colorado River apportionment. California will lose 440,000 acre-feet a year, equivalent to 10 percent of its 4.4 million acre-foot apportionment. Nevada will lose 50,000 acre-feet a year, or about 16.7 percent of its 300,000 acre-foot apportionment, as per the outlet.
Together, the three states will reduce deliveries by 1.25 million acre-feet each year for the next two years, beginning in 2027. The Interior Department is also calling for at least another 700,000 acre-feet of voluntary conservation and storage across the Lower Basin over the two-year period. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming make up the Upper Basin and will not face mandatory water cuts under the 2027-2028 guidelines.
Instead, the Interior Department is asking those states to enter into an agreement to use water stored in federal reservoirs to help protect Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. The four states are being asked to work with the Lower Basin states and tribal governments on how water can be managed from the Aspinall, Flaming Gorge and Navajo reservoir systems. The approach differs from the Lower Basin, where Arizona, California and Nevada had already submitted their own proposal for sharing the reductions.
"We are grateful for the Seven Basin States, the thirty Basin Tribes, Mexico, and many other basin stakeholders who have provided the feedback and voluntary arrangements necessary for the development of the 2027-2028 Operating Guidelines," said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, in a statement. Lake Powell, on the Colorado River near the Arizona-Utah border, has fallen to critically low levels alongside Lake Mead. The Interior Department said Lake Powell will begin the 2027 water year between elevations of 3,540 and 3,510 feet.
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