WASHINGTON —
Denver 7+ Colorado News Latest Headlines | January 30, 11am The challenge is in finding a method that California also agrees to. Now with a looming federal deadline for Colorado River basin states to say how they'll use at least 15% less water from the river, there's renewed urgency for Arizona, California and Nevada to factor in what's lost to evaporation.
But crucially, California disagrees. Officials there have said Nevada's plan would likely run afoul of western water law. California has rights to the largest share of Colorado River water. Just as important, in times of shortage, water cuts come later than for other users, based on the so-called Law of the River, a series of overlapping agreements, court decisions and contracts that determine how the river is shared. Its senior water rights mean it has been spared from cuts so far.
Under Nevada's plan, California would pay a steep price. In addition to using more water from the river than any other state, its water travels some of the longest distances. California’s Imperial Irrigation District, the single largest of all users of Colorado River water, would lose about 19% of its share. The region grows many of the nation’s winter vegetables and alfalfa, and Imperial has said it disagrees with issuing water cuts according to evaporative losses at all.
According to John Fleck, a researcher at the University of New Mexico’s Water Resources Program, Lower Basin states have avoided recognizing these losses for so long in part because there was no need to in decades past. Water was plentiful and some states didn't take all the water to which they were legally entitled.
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