SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Department of Interior released its plan for managing the Colorado River system in the absence of a deal between the seven states, including Utah, along the river.
On Friday, the agency issued its "record of decision" that will dictate operations in the interim. It means deep cuts in water for Lower Basin states like California, Arizona and Nevada. The Upper Basin states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are prodded to do more conservation.
"Forty million people, millions of acres of farmland and ranchland, industries that power the American West, and some of our nation’s fastest growing metropolitan areas depend on the Colorado River," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement announcing the decision.
The Colorado River system is in crisis with more demand than there is supply. Friday's guidelines include holding water back in Lake Powell to maintain a level of 3,510 feet — partially to keep it generating power. To help prop up Lake Powell, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation ordered the release of up to a million acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge upstream.
Earlier this week, the head of the Colorado River Authority of Utah told FOX 13 News she feared the federal government could continue to dip into Flaming Gorge to prop up Lake Powell. On Thursday, Governor Spencer Cox said that letting Lake Powell go is "never going to happen."
Upper Basin states will enter into an agreement with the feds and Native American tribes to operate reservoirs like Flaming Gorge, Aspinall and Navajo to help protect Glen Canyon Dam infrastructure.
"This is a significant amount of information, and we will not comment until we've had the opportunity to review it carefully and thoroughly," Gene Shawcroft, the Colorado River Commissioner for Utah, said in a statement to FOX 13 News. "What hasn't changed is the hydrology of this river. The Colorado is delivering less water than the system was built around, and no set of operating documents resolves that underlying reality. What these documents do is give us a framework to operate within while the basin states continue working toward the durable, long-term agreement this river demands."
Over the next two years, the Lower Basin states will reduce their water consumption by 1.25 million acre-feet. JB Hamby, the Colorado River Commissioner for California, said the record of decision gives some certainty for Lower Basin states.
"But this is a bridge, not a permanent solution. California, Arizona, and Nevada have shown that states can compromise, make difficult decisions, and reduce water use when the river demands it. But three states cannot carry the responsibility of all seven," he said in a statement. "California is prepared to discuss greater flexibility for the Upper Basin than the Colorado River Compact otherwise affords. That flexibility must be matched by robust action from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico to bring demand in line with what the river can supply and maintain sustainable deliveries to the Lower Basin and Mexico."
"The reality is simple: there is less water in the Colorado River, and the reductions ahead may be greater than anything we have faced before. A durable agreement must spread that responsibility fairly across the basin, with all seven states and both countries doing their part," Hamby added.
Caught in the middle are more than 40 million people who rely on the Colorado River for water. A significant chunk of the Wasatch Front's drinking water supply comes from the Colorado River system, pumped in through the Central Utah Project. The negotiations over who gets what out of the river is also intensely political, with each states' respective leaders jumping into the debate and sometimes threatening litigation.
"This document gives Lower Basin states some clarity for the short-term. But our long term expectations are still muddy," said Kyle Roerink of the Great Basin Water Network, an environmental group that has been watching the negotiations between the states. "The federal government’s decision offers some flexibility that could give Lower Basin states the ability to avoid the most draconian outcomes listed in the FEIS [final environmental impact statement] while they continue assembling new conservation policies for protecting Lake Mead. However, the Lower Basin’s chances of totally sidestepping the worst cuts are not guaranteed. Entities that are low on the totem pole of ‘rights’ still carry a lot of risk for cuts in times of unprecedented shortage."
This article is published through the Colorado River Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative supported by the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air at Utah State University. See all of our stories about how Utahns are impacted by the Colorado River at greatsaltlakenews.org/coloradoriver
