Feds say Arizona, California and Nevada must cut Colorado River water use by 1.25 million acre-feet

Amid an ongoing drought and record-low water levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the Colorado River’s largest reservoirs, the Bureau of Reclamation released its two-year operating plan on Aug. 21, detailing how the seven states that utilize the Colorado River’s water must reduce their usage. 

The operating plan requires the lower basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada — to reduce their use by 1.25 million acre-feet over the next two years: Arizona by 760,000 acre-feet, California by 440,000 and Nevada by 50,000, respectively. The plan also asks the lower basin states to provide an additional 700,000 acre-feet of water conservation over the next two years, Jennifer Solis writes for Source NM. 

If the drought conditions worsen, the plan could require much deeper cuts from the same states — up to 3 million acre-feet of water, or roughly 40% of their yearly supply. The operating plan does not specify how these cuts would be divided across the three states. 

The Bureau of Reclamation gave Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico, the Colorado River’s upper basin states, no mandatory water cuts, but a voluntary water target of up to 200,000 acre-feet. JB Hamby, chairman of the Colorado River Board of California and California’s chief negotiator, called on the upper basin states to cut water use and “maintain sustainable deliveries to the Lower Basin,” Solis reports. 

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