The federal government announced new limits on how much water the Southwest can get from the shrinking Colorado River on Tuesday, and top officials clarified the stakes.
“To avoid a catastrophic collapse of the Colorado River system and a future of uncertainty and conflict, we must reduce water use in the basin,” said Tanya Trujillo, deputy secretary for water and science at the Department of the Interior. said.
Two decades of drought and the increasing impact of climate change have pushed the river to its limits. The two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, are one-quarter of his reservoirs and are dropping at a pace that surprises many experts.
The government’s operating guidelines were based on existing agreements between the seven states drawing water from the river, so there were no real surprises. Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will bear the brunt of the restrictions, with farmers making the most severe cuts in Arizona.
Here are five key takeaways from Tuesday’s announcement:
1. The dark story told by water level data
The revised operational guidelines were expected as they are based on data, particularly the water levels of Lake Mead and Lake Powell. This figure helped explain the risk of waiting too long.
The Bureau of Reclamation predicts Lake Powell will be 3,522 feet above sea level on January 1st. This is just 32 feet above the minimum water level required to operate the Glen Canyon Dam power station.
When the lake drops below its minimum, the turbine shuts off. That would mean a loss of power, and the station would be forced to step up other methods to keep water flowing downstream through the dam to Lake Mead. It stops flowing through the Grand Canyon.
New plan:Arizona loses one-fifth of Colorado River quota under new federal drought plan
Lake Mead begins in 2023 at a physical elevation of just under 1,041 feet above sea level. This is 25 feet lower than January 1, 2022 and 173 feet lower than January 1, 2000, when the two reservoirs were full.
The agency will monitor all these numbers through 2023 and may adjust river operations if water levels do not recover.
2. Arizona, Nevada and Mexico hit hardest
Beginning January 1, Arizona will reduce water withdrawals from rivers by 592,000 acre feet (about 22% of state quota). Nevada loses her 25,000 acre-feet and Mexico gives up her 104,000 acre-feet.
California will not make any cuts at this time.
The deal follows an agreement reached decades ago when Arizona needed California’s help to build the Central Arizona Project, a canal that would move water from the Colorado River to Phoenix, Tucson and Pinal counties. Rooted. Arizona has agreed to assign lower priority rights to its water, which will delay cuts in California.
The cuts announced Tuesday were part of the 2007 Drought Response Plan and the more recent Drought Contingency Plan.
Arizona officials hope other states will absorb some of the pain if the federal government seeks more cuts in the next few years, but so far negotiations have failed. I’m here.
“It is unacceptable for Arizona to continue to bear a disproportionate burden of abatement for the benefit of others who are not contributing,” said Tom Buschatzke, the state’s water resources chief, and CAP general. Manager Ted Cook said.
3. Most Arizonans face no water restrictions
Again, Arizona farmers will be hit hardest by water cuts. From his January 1st of this year, the Pinal County grower has lost access to water from his CAP, and this will not change for him in 2023.
Most Arizona cities are fed by a mixture of the Colorado, Salt, and Verde rivers, which provide better conditions. Even if municipal suppliers run out of water (whether they do or not), cities have buffers to protect residential occupants from cuts.
Phoenix has declared what it calls a Phase 1 water alert, but with a particular focus on outdoor water conservation measures. City officials don’t expect the ban to become mandatory in the next year.
CAP does not serve cities other than Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties.
Earlier this year, the Arizona legislature approved a plan to spend more than $1 billion to increase water supplies and promote conservation.
4. Tribal communities will continue to play a role
As Arizona and other states discussed ways to expand river supplies, tribal community leaders attended the table more often, and they leveraged their own quotas to delay deeper cuts.
The Colorado River Indian Tribe and the Gila River Indian community previously left part of the river in Lake Mead to maintain the reservoir level and allow Arizona to meet its obligations under its drought contingency plan. bottom.
But Gila River officials said Tuesday they were unhappy with the pace of negotiations and had decided to reassess their involvement by storing water underground rather than leaving it in reservoirs.
Some tribal leaders also expressed concern that they were being left out of the latest talks, writing to the Home Office to seek to protect their interests as water use is curtailed. There is
Tribal communities were excluded from major water decisions for decades, starting with the first major river agreement in 1922, the Colorado River Compact.
5. The interior department left the door open for more cuts
Recycling Administration Commissioner Camille Kalimrim Touton, who testified before a Senate committee in June, said the Colorado River system had reached a tipping point, with important conservation measures to protect water users and infrastructure. She suggested seven states could have to cut between two and four million acre-feet.
On Tuesday, the government outlined plans to cut combined deliveries to Arizona, Nevada and Mexico by 721,000 acre feet.
However, the agency has revealed that more protection will be required, with reductions ranging from 600,000 to 4.2 million acre-feet per year, depending on the snow load and runoff in the coming winter months.
Arizona’s annual allotment is 2.8 million acre feet.
