‘We can do better’: West split over Colorado River’s future
States in the upper and lower basins propose competing long-term plans for addressing the region’s chronic water shortages as well as climate change issues
With climate change compounding the strains on the Colorado River, seven Western states are starting to consider long-term plans for reducing water use to prevent the river’s reservoirs from reaching critically low levels in the years to come.
But negotiations among representatives of the states have so far failed to resolve disagreements. And now, two groups of states are proposing competing plans for addressing the river’s chronic gap between supply and demand.
In one camp, the three states in the river’s lower basin — California, Arizona and Nevada — say their approach would share the largest-ever water reductions throughout the Colorado River Basin to ensure long-term sustainability.
In the other camp, the four upper basin states — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico — argue their proposal would help rebuild reservoir levels and enable the West to adapt to the limits of diminished river flows.
The two sides disagree on how triggers for mandatory cutbacks should be determined, and how the reductions should be apportioned between the lower basin and the upper basin.
Representatives of California, Arizona and Nevada say the upper states’ proposal is unworkable because it would require the lower states to shoulder the burden of the cuts, while the lower basin’s proposal would spread the cuts throughout the region when reservoirs reach low levels.
“Our proposal requires adaptation and sacrifice by water users across the region,” said J.B. Hamby, California’s Colorado River commissioner. “It is all of our collective responsibility. Putting the entire burden of climate change on one basin or another will result in conflict. And we can do better than that.”