{"id":38896,"date":"2022-08-15T14:14:38","date_gmt":"2022-08-15T20:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/deadline-looms-for-states-to-cut-colorado-river-use\/"},"modified":"2022-08-15T20:14:38","modified_gmt":"2022-08-15T20:14:38","slug":"deadline-looms-for-states-to-cut-colorado-river-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/deadline-looms-for-states-to-cut-colorado-river-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadline looms for states to cut Colorado River use"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A formerly sunken boat sits upright into the air with its stern stuck in the mud along the shoreline of Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Friday, June 10, 2022, near Boulder City, Nevada. (John Locher\/Associated Press file)<\/span>John Locher<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

SALT LAKE CITY \u2013 Banks along parts of the Colorado River where water once streamed are now just caked mud and rock as climate change makes the Western U.S. hotter and drier.<\/p>\n

More than two decades of drought have done little to deter the region from diverting more water than flows through it, depleting key reservoirs to levels that now jeopardize water delivery and hydropower production.<\/p>\n

Cities and farms in seven U.S. states are bracing for cuts this week as officials stare down a deadline to propose unprecedented reductions to their use of the water, setting up what\u2019s expected to be the most consequential week for Colorado River policy in years.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in June told the states \u2013 Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming \u2013 to determine how to use at least 15% less water next year, or have restrictions imposed on them. The bureau is also expected to publish hydrology projections that will trigger additional cuts already agreed to.<\/p>\n

Tensions over the extent of the cuts and how to spread them equitably have flared, with states pointing fingers and stubbornly clinging to their water rights despite the looming crisis.<\/p>\n

Representatives from the seven states convened in Denver last week for last minute negotiations behind closed doors. Those discussions have yet to produce concrete proposals, but officials party to them say the most likely targets for cuts are Arizona and California farmers. Agricultural districts in those states are asking to be paid generously to bear that burden.<\/p>\n

The proposals under discussion, however, fall short of what the Bureau of Reclamation has demanded and, with negotiations stalling, state officials say they hope for more time to negotiate details.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the obvious urgency of the situation, the last sixty-two days produced exactly nothing in terms of meaningful collective action to help forestall the looming crisis,\u201d John Entsminger, the general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority wrote in a letter on Monday. He called the agricultural district demands \u201cdrought profiteering.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado River cascades from the Rocky Mountains into the arid deserts of the Southwest. It\u2019s the primary water supply for 40 million people. About 70% of its water goes toward irrigation, sustaining a $15 billion-a-year agricultural industry that supplies 90% of the United States\u2019 winter vegetables.<\/p>\n

Water from the river is divided among Mexico and the seven U.S. states under a series of agreements that date back a century, to a time when more flowed.<\/p>\n

But climate change has transformed the river\u2019s hydrology, providing less snowmelt and causing hotter temperatures and more evaporation. As the river yielded less water, the states agreed to cuts tied to the levels of reservoirs that store its water.<\/p>\n

\"Farmer
Farmer John Hawk looks over his land as his seed onion fields are watered in Holtville, California, Sept. 3, 2002. (Reed Saxon\/Associated Press file)<\/span>Reed Saxon<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Last year, federal officials for the first time declared a water shortage, triggering cuts to Nevada, Arizona and Mexico\u2019s share of the river to help prevent the two largest reservoirs \u2013 Lake Powell and Lake Mead \u2013 from dropping low enough to threaten hydropower production and stop water from flowing through their dams.<\/p>\n

The proposals for supplemental cuts due this week have inflamed disagreement between upper basin states \u2013 Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming \u2013 and lower basin states \u2013 Arizona, California and Nevada \u2013 over how to spread the pain.<\/p>\n

The lower basin states use most of the water and have thus far shouldered most of the cuts. The upper basin states have historically not used their full allocations but want to maintain water rights to plan for population growth.<\/p>\n

Gene Shawcroft, the chairman of Utah\u2019s Colorado River Authority, believes the lower basin states should take most of the cuts because they use most of the water and their full allocations.<\/p>\n

He said it was his job to protect Utah\u2019s allocation for growth projected for decades ahead: \u201cThe direction we\u2019ve been given as water purveyors is to make sure we have water for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter last month, representatives from the upper basin states proposed a five-point conservation plan they said would save water, but argued most cuts needed to come from the lower basin. The plan didn\u2019t commit to any numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus is getting the tools in place and working with water users to get as much as we can rather than projecting a water number,\u201d Chuck Cullom, the executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission, told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

That position, however, is unsatisfactory to many in lower basin states already facing cuts.<\/p>\n

\"A
A boat cruises along Lake Powell near Page, Arizona., on July 31, 2021. Seven states in the U.S. West are facing a deadline from the federal government to come up with a plan to use substantially less Colorado River water in 2023. (Rick Bowmer\/Associated Press file)<\/span>Rick Bowmer<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s going to come to a head particularly if the upper basin states continue their negotiating position, saying, \u2018We\u2019re not making any cuts,\u2019\u201d said Bruce Babbitt, who served as Interior secretary from 2003-2011.<\/p>\n

Lower basin states have yet to go public with plans to contribute, but officials said last week that the states\u2019 tentative proposal under discussion fell slightly short of the federal government\u2019s request to cut 2 to 4 million acre-feet.<\/p>\n

An acre-foot of water is enough to serve two to three households annually.<\/p>\n

Bill Hasencamp, the Colorado River resource manager at Southern California\u2019s Metropolitan Water District, said all the districts in the state that draw from the river had agreed to contribute water or money to the plan, pending approval by their respective boards. Water districts, in particular Imperial Irrigation District, have been adamant that any voluntary cut must not curtail their high priority water rights.<\/p>\n

Southern California cities will likely provide money that could fund fallowing farmland in places like Imperial County and water managers are considering leaving water they\u2019ve stored in Lake Mead as part of their contribution.<\/p>\n

Arizona will probably be hit hard with reductions. The state over the past few years shouldered many of the cuts. With its growing population and robust agricultural industry, it has less wiggle room than its neighbors to take on more, said Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke. Some Native American tribes in Arizona have also contributed to propping up Lake Mead in the past, and could play an outsized role in any new proposal.<\/p>\n

Irrigators around Yuma, Arizona, have proposed taking 925,000 acre-feet less of Colorado River water in 2023 and leaving it in Lake Mead if they\u2019re paid $1.4 billion, or $1,500 per acre-foot. The cost is far above the going rate, but irrigators defended their proposal as fair considering the cost to grow crops and get them to market.<\/p>\n

Wade Noble, the coordinator for a coalition that represents Yuma water rights holders, said it was the only proposal put forth publicly that includes actual cuts, rather than theoretical cuts to what users are allocated on paper.<\/p>\n

Some of the compensation-for-conservation funds could come from a $4 billion in drought funding included in the Inflation Reduction Act under consideration in Washington, U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona told the AP.<\/p>\n

Sinema acknowledged that paying farmers to conserve is not a long-term solution: \u201cIn the short-term, however, in order to meet our day-to-day needs and year-to-year needs, ensuring that we\u2019re creating financial incentives for non-use will help us get through,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Babbitt agreed that money in the legislation will not \u201cmiraculously solve the problem\u201d and said prices for water must be reasonable to avoid gouging because most water users will take be impacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way that these cuts can all be paid for at a premium price for years and years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fonseca reported from Flagstaff, Arizona. Associated Press reporter Kathleen Ronayne contributed from Sacramento, California.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"-
\u2013 Visitors view the dramatic bend in the Colorado River at the popular Horseshoe Bend in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, in Page, Arizona., on Sept. 9, 2011. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin, File)<\/span>Ross D. Franklin<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A home with a swimming pool abuts the desert on the edge of the Las Vegas valley, Wednesday, July 20, 2022, in Henderson, Nevada. (AP Photo\/John Locher, File)<\/span>John Locher<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A
A rainbow appears behind water pipes conveying water from the Colorado River at Gene Camp, a facility operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, near Parker Dam, California. (AP Photo\/Jae C. Hong, File)<\/span>Jae C. Hong<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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