{"id":141730,"date":"2026-01-20T16:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T16:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/141730\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T16:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T16:44:18","slug":"possible-playbook-for-managing-dwindling-colorado-river-supply-includes-cuts-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/141730\/","title":{"rendered":"Possible playbook for managing dwindling Colorado River supply includes cuts in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal agency overseeing the water supply for tens of millions of people in California and other parts of the West has published a list of options for how it might manage the drought-stricken Colorado River in the future.<\/p>\n

The five proposals<\/a> range from taking \u201cno action\u201d to a scenario that might result in water cuts to the lower basin states of California, Nevada and Arizona. One alternative developed in partnership with conservation groups would incentivize states and water users to proactively conserve the river.<\/p>\n

But the Interior Department is not identifying a preferred option, and the scenarios outlined in hundreds of pages of documents will only move forward if all seven states that depend on the water fail to agree on their own conservation plan<\/a> soon.<\/p>\n

The current operating guidelines for Lake Powell and Lake Mead along the Colorado River are set to expire in August.<\/p>\n

California, Colorado and the five other states that depend on the waterway have been at an impasse for almost two years<\/a> as they negotiate how to share and conserve its water in the face of drought and growing demands on the river.<\/p>\n

A gathering of the state\u2019s top river negotiators in December appeared to pass without a breakthrough<\/a>, and the next deadline for states to come to terms looms Feb. 14.<\/p>\n

John Fleck, a water policy expert at the University of New Mexico, told KUNC after the negotiators missed a key November deadline<\/a> that it would be unfortunate and risky if the states don\u2019t reach an agreement and head to court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe end up handing off water management responsibilities to courts because we haven\u2019t been able to take charge of our own water management fate in the basin,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think that would be unfortunate and poses a lot of risks, but that may be the only way, is that courts make us do the right thing (to conserve water).\u201d<\/p>\n

As of Jan. 11, Lake Powell and Lake Mead were at 27% and 33% full, respectively.<\/p>\n

The Interior Department says drought conditions over the past 25 years and forecasts for dry conditions have made it \u201cparticularly challenging\u201d to come up with new management plans for the river.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Department of the Interior is moving forward with this process to ensure environmental compliance is in place so operations can continue without interruption when the current guidelines expire,\u201d the department\u2019s assistant secretary of water and science, Andrea Travnicek, said in a statement. \u201cThe river and the 40 million people who depend on it cannot wait. In the face of an ongoing severe drought, inaction is not an option.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Interior Department said a decision about future management of the river will land before Oct. 1 \u201cto provide certainty for communities, tribes and water users.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public comment will be accepted on the draft plans through early March.<\/p>\n

This article is part of ongoing coverage of the Colorado River, produced by KUNC <\/a>and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. KUNC is solely responsible for its editorial coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The federal agency overseeing the water supply for tens of millions of people in California and other parts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,1957,643,71291],"class_list":{"0":"post-141730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-colorado-river","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-water-allocations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}