BOULDER CITY, NV — The Biden administration outlined three options Tuesday for dealing with the dwindling Colorado River supply.
All the draft options would mean cuts to Arizona.
The draft from the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation analyzes potential shortages and the options to protect Glen Canyon and Hoover Dam operations and to ensure water supply and hydropower for 40 million people.
“We’re in the third decade of a historic drought that has caused conditions that the people who built this system would not have imagined,” said Tommy Beaudreau, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior at a news conference Tuesday.
He and other federal, state, and tribal officials gathered for the highly anticipated announcement in a room that overlooked the Hoover Dam, where Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, stood at 25% capacity.
Officials said the options are a framework for the seven Western states that have rights to the water and tribes to try and build a consensus amid unprecedented water shortages. The federal proposals come after all seven states failed to come to an agreement.
- One option is a “no action” alternative, meaning it would continue the existing agreements and cuts for Glen Canyon and Hoover dams. Federal officials said this would lead to a decline in water levels, threatening the operation of the dams and the water supply.
- Another option would make cuts based on priority users, which would favor California.
- A third option would spread water reductions at the same percentages across water users.
Arizona currently gets 36% of its water supply from the Colorado River.
River water is transported via the 336-mile Central Arizona Project, a canal system that begins in Lake Havasu and ends in Tucson.
Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, predicted a lot of hard work and decisions ahead. The options unveiled Tuesday represent multiple paths forward, he said at the news conference. Some paths have dire consequences that may stir opposition and lawsuits. He called lawsuits an “unacceptable” outcome.
“Once litigation occurs – if it does- it’s going to be very difficult to negotiate something going forward,” he said.
Federal officials said this year’s above-average snowpack – 157% of average – is encouraging. But they caution one year isn’t enough to save the Colorado River.
“It hasn’t melted yet,” said Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton. “So let’s not count it until it melts into the reservoirs.”
The Interior Department is collecting public comment on the Colorado River options – called the draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, or SEIS – through May 30. The department expects to announce a decision in August, which will guide river operations in 2024-2026.
