Arizona water leaders say that the seven Colorado River Basin states have still not reached an agreement on how to operate the Colorado River after 2026. But on Wednesday, at an Arizona Reconsultation Committee meeting, those leaders discussed a new plan that would cut 3.2 million acre-feet of Colorado River water from the Lower Basin.
One acre-foot is enough water to cover one acre of land with one foot of water.
Arizona is proposing to reduce 760,000 acre-feet of its Colorado River water allocation in 2027 and 2028, followed by California and Nevada, which plan to conserve 440,000 acre-feet and 50,000 acre-feet per year, respectively, according to a proposal that was submitted to the federal government on May 1.
Tom Buschatzke, director of Arizona’s Department of Water Resources, is the state’s top negotiator for ongoing Colorado River negotiations. He says that the Lower Basin needs the federal government’s funding to help make this plan happen, however the federal government is interested in cost-sharing with the Lower Basin to accomplish these efforts.
During a call with the press on Thursday, Buschatzke said that $354 million is expected to come from the federal government, from leftover monies from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act to held fund an additional 700,000 acre-feet of conserved water that is also planned by the Lower Basin states.
An additional $100 million was approved by the Office of Management and Budget for water conservation spending for similar agreements that could be led by the Upper Basin states.
In 2022, $4 billion was approved by Congress and earmarked for Colorado River conservation efforts – Buschatzke noted that the Deputy Commissioner of Operations for the Bureau of Reclamation David Palumbo recently said $1 billion of that money hasn’t been spent yet.
It is unclear which water users would take on those cuts; during Wednesday’s water stakeholders meeting, Southern Arizona farmer Brian Wong – a Central Arizona Project water user – asked if that system would take on that entire reduction.
“I just wanted to know what those percentage reductions were going to be in those other priority pools,” Wong said.
CAP General Manager Brenda Burman said the plan from the lower division would cause about a 20% reduction in municipal and industrial water users and 17% in water allocated to tribes.
In January, the Bureau of Reclamation released its draft Environmental Impact Statement for post-2026 operating guidelines and sought to adopt a 20-year plan.
Now, the agency is considering a “preliminary, preferred alternative” 10-year framework that would be renewed every two-years. The first two years would be covered by the Lower Basin state’s proposal and implemented through agreements among the states.
A Final Environmental Impact Statement is expected to be released in June and a decision is expected in July, Buschatzke said.
During Thursday’s call with the press, Buschatzke noted that he would consider mediation with Upper Basin states to focus on a long-term solution.
