California has given the federal government its own proposal for making cuts to water use on the Colorado River, saying a plan offered by six other states would not equally burden farms and town in Southern California.
Water agencies that rely on the river submitted their proposal to the Biden administration on Tuesday, the same day that federal officials set as a deadline for states in the Colorado River Basin to reach an agreement on whether how to prevent reservoirs from falling to dangerously low levels.
The state pushed its proposal a day after Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming released their alternative. A large portion of the cuts they propose would be made by accounting for evaporation and other water losses along the lower reaches of the river — a calculation that would translate into particularly large reductions for California, which uses more water in the Colorado River than any other state.
“The six-state proposal directly and disproportionately affects California,” said Wade Crowfoot, the state’s natural resources secretary. “It does not seem like a useful approach for some states to make a proposal that only affects the existing water security and water rights of another state that is not part of that proposal.”
Crowfoot said some states are taking an approach that goes beyond anything established in treaties and laws that govern how the Colorado River is managed and used. He said that the proposal of the water agencies of California, on the contrary, outlines practical and achievable changes that can be made starting this year to stabilize the level of the reservoir.
The state proposal builds on a previous commitment by four Southern California water agencies to cut water use by 400,000 acre-feet per year, a reduction of about 9%, through 2026. The federal request states to reduce their total use by 2 million to 4 million acre-feet.
On top of planned reductions in California and other states, the proposal calls for measures aimed at keeping reservoirs above certain levels, including making additional cuts in a tiered measure when the level of Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, continues to decline to. critical low level.
In the proposal letter, JB Hamby, chair of California’s Colorado River Board, said the state’s alternative “provides a realistic and implementable framework to address reduced inflows and reduced reservoir elevations through the establishment of voluntary agreements and past collaborative efforts to minimize the risk of legal challenge or enforcement delays.”
California agencies including the Imperial Irrigation District and the Palo Verde Irrigation District, which deliver water to vast farms, have had high-priority senior water rights for more than a century. California officials insist that these rights and existing river laws must be supported by any plan for reducing water use.
“California has not wavered from our legal position,” Hamby said. “We continue to look forward to creating a seven-state consensus if possible, but without that, it’s out of the river law.”
If any legal disputes erupt, it can complicate efforts to reach solutions. The states submitted their proposed alternatives as the Interior Department and the Bureau of Reclamation began a review process to change the current rules for dealing with the deficiencies of the Colorado River.
Hamby said California is focused on “practical solutions that can be implemented today to protect the amount of water that is stored without driving conflict and litigation.”
“At this point in time, we haven’t reached that consensus, but we hope to make that progress,” Hamby said. “We need to reach consensus among the seven states in the basin to create voluntary procedures where each state is comfortable with the direction.”
Even after the federal government’s deadline, managers of water agencies have several talks scheduled to continue negotiations.
The Colorado River, which supplies cities, farming areas and tribal nations from the Rocky Mountains to the US-Mexico border, is being pushed to a breaking point by chronic overuse, drought and the effects of flooding. it’s hot in the world.
Over the past 23 years, the watershed has been drained by the worst drought in centuries, exacerbated by rising temperatures.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell now sit about three-quarters empty. And even though the Rocky Mountains have seen above-average amounts of snow so far this winter, it hasn’t been enough to get the reservoirs out of dire water shortages.
Federal officials in June called for seven states to come up with plans to reduce water transfers by approximately 15% to 30%. But the negotiations with the states became intense and came to nothing.
Last October, the Biden administration announced plans to revise current rules for dealing with shortages and to pursue a new agreement for major reductions in water use.
After the latest round of talks reached an impasse, the six states released their proposal. They called it an “alternative framework” to be considered by the Bureau of Reclamation as part of its review while preparing the so-called supplemental environmental impact statement.
Six states have urged federal officials to begin accounting for more than 1.5 million acre-feet of water loss, primarily caused by evaporation, which could mean major cuts for Southern California.
“I don’t think there’s any disagreement on the magnitude of the reductions that are needed,” said John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. “We need this magnitude of cuts to stabilize the system.”
The question is how the cuts will be distributed, he said, and talks will continue with the states.
“I think there is a strong commitment in all seven states to continue to work in good faith on a solution,” Entsminger said.
Federal officials aim to release a draft review of the alternatives by the end of March, followed by a decision in the summer.
Entsminger said that although the states have not yet reached a consensus, he hopes that “we can come up with something that everyone can do.”
Crowfoot said the California proposal, while specifying reductions, also focuses on protecting the “baseline water needs of communities across the West by prioritizing water supplies for the health and safety of man.”
While negotiating the immediate plans, the seven states should also start talks soon about the rules for managing disabilities after 2026.
Crowfoot said these talks are better suited to discussing any changes to the established allocation system, such as the six-state proposal to target water loss from evaporation.
“To do that in a few months in a system that’s been built for a century, we don’t think is the way to build consensus,” Crowfoot said. “We will be focusing on the work that is being done … making water conservation changes here in the coming months.”
California Sens. Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein supported the state’s proposal, saying that no state will be spared from water shortages as drought and climate change reduce river flows.
The two Democratic senators said in a joint statement that “six other Western states dictating how much water California should give up is not a real consensus solution — especially from states that don’t offer any new cuts to their own water use.” They added that the six-state proposal “fails to recognize California’s senior legal water rights.”
A California tribal leader has joined water managers in supporting the state’s proposal. Quechan Tribal Council President Jordan Joaquin said the proposal “represents a meaningful effort to address the hydrologic challenges faced by [Colorado River] Perhaps while respecting the senior water rights of the Tribe and others and ensuring that the Colorado can continue to exist as a living river.
Managers of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California said they are planning additional measures to reduce water use in the Colorado River this year.
“But we have to do it in a way that doesn’t harm half of the people who depend on the river – the 19 million people in Southern California,” said Adel Hagekhalil, general manager of MWD. “We have to do it in a way that doesn’t destroy our $1.6-trillion economy, an economic engine for the entire United States. We need to do this in a way that is easily enforceable, adding water to lakes Mead and Powell without getting bogged down in long legal battles.
Last December, leaders of water wholesalers declared a drought emergency in the region and called on local suppliers to reduce water use. MWD managers discussed plans for transitioning to mandatory conservation measures across the region by beginning to allocate supplies for all 26 member agencies in the district.
Adán Ortega, chairman of the MWD board, said the district is preparing to take these steps to “do our part to save the Colorado River.”
“We have begun to prepare our member agencies and the public for this possibility, and so that is a good move that we hope other states will take seriously,” said Ortega.
Ortega said the six-state proposal would lead to disputes about the calculations of evaporation losses, “not to mention the disputes you will have about changing the river’s rule.”
He said it was an “ill-advised shortcut.”
