The seven states in the river basin had until Saturday to reach consensus.
By Alan Riquelmy, Courthouse News Service
A potential operational agreement between seven Colorado River basin states, facing a Saturday deadline, appears to have been writ in water.
Representatives of those states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah — have been negotiating for months over an agreement. A changing climate and less water in the river over the years dampened the talks, with the Saturday deadline always looming.
Now, major players in those negotiations are saying no agreement has been reached. That essentially ensures the U.S. Department of the Interior will step in with its own operational plan for the river that will begin next year.
The river provides water to some 40 million people.
“As I talk with people throughout Southern Nevada, I hear their frustration that years of negotiations have yielded almost no headway in finding a path through these turbulent waters,” said John Entsminger, Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager and Nevada’s basin state commissioner, in a statement. “As someone who has spent countless nights and weekends away from my family trying to craft a reasonable, mutually acceptable solution only to be confronted by the same tired rhetoric and entrenched positions, I share that frustration.”
The seven-basin states have forged agreements on reservoir operations since 1970. They’re currently under a 20-year plan that ends with the new year.
The federal government would prefer the states reach consensus on their own, with Saturday’s deadline a kind of sword of Damocles meant to hasten their agreement.
It didn’t work.
The governors of Arizona, California and Nevada lamented the missed deadline in a joint statement. They said some 75% of the population, employment and crop sales stemming from the basin lay in their three states.
“Our stance remains firm and fair: all seven basin states must share in the responsibility of conservation,” the governors said. “Our shared success hinges on compromise, and we have offered significant flexibility, allowing states without robust conservation programs time to gradually develop these programs in ways that work in each state.”
The four governors of the upper basin states said in a statement that their residents live within their means by adapting their water use to what’s available.
“We as upper basin states remain committed to working to reach a solution that works for each of the seven states, and all who rely on the Colorado River,” the governors of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming said. “We have come together in good faith throughout this process, and are putting every tool on the table available to us, including releases from our upstream reservoirs, a meaningful voluntary conservation both now and in the future, and continued strict self-regulation of water supplies.”
All governors said negotiations will continue.
An agreement between the states could still affect any operational plan issued by the federal government. The federal Bureau of Reclamation in January issued a draft environmental impact statement, called an EIS. It contains a handful of potential operational plans, though the bureau had no preferred option.
That’s because it’s hoping the states reach consensus, which would affect the EIS.
A public comment period for the statement ends March 2. A final decision on operations will occur by Oct. 1, the start of the new water year.
Tension over the agreement permeated a December group discussion involving the commissioners at the annual Colorado River Water Users Association’s conference.
Speaking in turn, the commissioners expressed the water needs of their own respective states while committing to continuing negotiations.
Representatives of the federal government attended the conference, emphasizing the need for the states to reach consensus and avoid litigation.
They also pointed to the changing climate, which has contributed to reduced water flows from the Colorado River.
In mid-December, a bureau program manager noted a temperature of 65 degrees at 6,000 feet in the Rockies. Lake Powell dropped from 31% of capacity in December 2024 to 28% this past December. While Lake Mead has remained somewhat steady around 33% of capacity, uncertainty remains.
When reservoir levels fall below a certain point, the ability to generate power takes a massive hit.
“The river doesn’t care about legal interpretations, political comfort zones, or arguments about why a state can’t do more to conserve,” Entsminger said. “Posturing doesn’t fill the taps. While I will continue to work with my Colorado River counterparts in hopes of finding a workable solution to this crisis, we must also prepare to fight for our water supply if it comes to that.”
