Jeniffer Solis
\n\u00a0|\u00a0 Nevada Current<\/p>\n
Western states that rely on the Colorado River have less than two months to agree on how to manage the troubled river \u2014 and pressure is mounting as the federal government pushes for a compromise and a troubling forecast for the river\u2019s two biggest reservoirs looms.<\/p>\n
Top water officials for the seven Colorado River Basin states \u2014 Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming \u2014 gathered for the three-day Colorado River Water Users Association conference at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas last week.<\/p>\n
Colorado River states have until Feb. 14 to reach a new water sharing agreement before current operating rules expire at the end of 2026 \u2014 or the federal government will step in with their own plan, according to Nevada Current<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite the fast-approaching deadline, states reiterated many of the same issues they did during previous years at the conference, namely, which water users will need to sacrifice more water to keep the Colorado River stable as overallocation, climate change, and rising demand sucks the river dry.<\/p>\n Nevada\u2019s chief river negotiator and general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority John Entsminger offered a succinct but sharp assessment of the negotiations during a panel discussion Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you distill down what my six partners just said, I believe there\u2019s three common things: Here\u2019s all the great things my state has done. Here\u2019s how hard\/impossible it is to do any more. And here are all the reasons why other people should have to do more,\u201d Entsminger said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as we keep polishing those arguments and repeating them to each other, we are going nowhere,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n The seven states that share the river\u2019s flows have been deadlocked for nearly two years over how to govern the waterway through the coming decades \u2014 even as water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell are forecasted to reach record lows after two straight years of disappointing snowpack across the West.<\/p>\n The Colorado River\u2019s headwaters saw a weak snowpack last winter, contributing to one of the worst spring runoff seasons on record. Water flow into the river this year was only 56% of average, leading to significant reductions in Lake Powell, according to the Interior Department\u2019s Bureau of Reclamation.<\/p>\n Federal officials also released a troubling forecast of expected flows for the river in 2026, which were significantly lower than previous predictions. Projections from the Bureau of Reclamation found the Colorado River\u2019s inflow next year would likely be 27% lower than normal, with worst-case scenarios predicting even lower flows.<\/p>\n Without a strong winter snow season, it\u2019s possible Lake Powell\u2019s levels could drop low enough to cease hydropower production by next October \u2014 a scenario that would also limit the department\u2019s ability to send water downstream to Arizona, California and Nevada.<\/p>\n The federal government has refrained from imposing its own plan for the river, preferring the seven basin states reach consensus themselves. But the Interior Department has ramped up pressure on states to reach a deal.<\/p>\n The Bureau of Reclamation\u2019s Acting Commissioner Scott Cameron said he and other federal officials have intensified efforts to bring states to a consensus, flying out West every other week since early April to meet with the seven states\u2019 river negotiators.<\/p>\n \u201cThe expiration of the current agreements is not a distant horizon. It\u2019s less than a year away. The time to act is now,\u201d said Cameron.<\/p>\n Within the next few weeks, the Bureau of Reclamation\u00a0will release a range of proposals\u00a0<\/a>to replace the river\u2019s current operating rules, but said they would not identify which set of operating guidelines the federal government would prefer<\/p>\n