Colorado River States Inch Closer to Agreement

The two groups of states that rely on water from the Colorado River still can’t quite agree on how to make cuts in water usage to conserve the river’s resources. According to The Land Desk’s Jonathan P. Thompson, “If the river users don’t make some major cuts and soon, the reservoirs will dry up and leave the Southwest’s cities, towns, and farms to fight over the diminishing scraps.”

Thompson adds that the discussion is complicated by a lack of clarity in the 1922 Colorado River Compact. “Until those definitions are agreed upon, we won’t really know whether the Lower Basin is using the amount of water allocated to it in the Compact (8.5 million acre-feet), or significantly more than that (10.1 million acre-feet).”

The two regions have each developed plans that agree on some key items, but disagree on how to restrict water supplies when reservoirs reach critically low levels. “Both basins’ alternatives mention and acknowledge that many tribal nations’ water rights remain unfulfilled, and yet say little about how the situation might be rectified.”