Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will be required to take less water from the Colorado River for the first time next year under a set of agreements that aim to keep enough water in Lake Mead to reduce the risk of a crash.
The Colorado River’s reservoirs have dropped dramatically since 2000 during one of the most extreme droughts in centuries. Farms and cities across the Southwest have long been taking more from the river than what flows into it, and climate change is adding to the strains by pushing up temperatures. Arizona will see a cut of 192,000 acre-feet in water deliveries next year, or 6.9% of its total allotment of 2.8 million acre-feet. Nevada’s share will be reduced by 8,000 acre-feet, while Mexico’s will take 41,000 acre-feet less. That water will remain in Lake Mead, and will only be recovered once the reservoir rises above an elevation of 1,100 feet.
“That used to be ‘excess’ water, which Arizona banked and had other uses for. And now it’s being committed to Lake Mead,” Porter said. The legal framework that divides the Colorado River among seven states and Mexico was established during much wetter times nearly a century ago, starting with the 1922 Colorado River Compact. That and subsequent agreements have allocated far more water than what flows in the river in an average year, leading to chronic overuse.
These first mandatory cutbacks on the Colorado River represent “the first acknowledgment that we have a problem and we need to solve it,” said Udall, a water and climate scientist at Colorado State University. “It’s the beginning of a solution and it’s also the beginning of the real problem. I mean, as much as we’ve seen this problem in the last 20 years, the climate models really project a grim future with regard to temperatures.
Arizona’s plan also relies on promoting more pumping of groundwater. Farmers in Pinal County, who face the biggest water cutbacks, are in line to get $9 million that was appropriated by the Legislature for irrigation districts to drill new wells and pay for other infrastructure as they turn to using more groundwater. Lawmakers also agreed to provide a $20 million to help the districts start the work while they pursue federal funding.
Pray for rain and lots of snow in the mountains.
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