SALT LAKE CITY — The Trump administration has released its long-awaited plan to manage the Colorado River, which supplies water to more than 40 million people in Utah and six other states.
The final environmental impact statement, released by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Friday, would see the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada taking as much as 3 million acre-feet less water in the coming years.
“The proposal responds to a fundamental reality: the Colorado River no longer reliably produces enough water to support all the uses and expectations built around it,” JB Hamby, the Colorado River Commissioner for California, said in a statement. “That challenge is shared across the Basin, and addressing it requires specific, measurable reductions in water use by every state.”
Utah and the other Upper Basin states of Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico have largely been spared from mandatory cuts.
“We get cuts from Mother Nature every year,” Gene Shawcroft, the Colorado River Commissioner for Utah, told reporters on Friday. “We don’t know what those cuts are, we have to live with what Mother Nature provides us.”
The proposal continues to prop up Lake Powell by not releasing as much downstream to Lake Mead.
“This contemplates lower releases out of Lake Powell in the event, and it certainly looks like this is the direction we’re headed, the hydrology deteriorates,” said Amy Haas, the executive director of the Colorado River Authority of Utah, which advocates for the state’s interests.
But it does push Upper Basin states to set conservation targets. It also demands 10 years' worth of two-year deals to prod the states to come up with their own management agreement for the water.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released its own plan after the states have repeatedly failed to strike their own deal over who gets what out of the Colorado River. Demand has exceeded supply, and recent studies have warned the entire system is headed for a crash. There are projections that Glen Canyon Dam could cease to generate electricity by the end of this year, and there is less water for everyone.
“We certainly can’t expect Mother Nature to provide the way we used to given climate change and this now aridification,” Steve Erickson with the Great Basin Water Network told FOX 13 News on Friday.
He believed Utah and other Upper Basin states could do more for conservation. Other environmental advocacy groups urged the states to seek mediation to come up with a deal.
“The Basin states have been repeating the same arguments for years and negotiations have not yielded meaningful results. It is time to change things up and work with a team of professional mediators who can help facilitate productive negotiations and support the states in reaching consensus,” Western Resource Advocates said in a statement. “This water year is one of the worst on record. Our communities need collaborative solutions that can be deployed immediately.”
The Colorado River — and a lack of a states-led deal — has made for a politically volatile situation across the American West. Arizona has launched campaigns to defend its stake in the river and hinted at the potential of litigation.
“While this FEIS still contains unacceptable options that include the federal government forcing Arizona to take the majority of draconian water cutbacks, implementing the Lower Basin agreement would protect Arizona from massive water cuts, distribute reductions more fairly across the Lower Basin States, and provide stability and protection to the water supply that our communities rely upon,” Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs said in a statement.
Utah leaders have also socked away money for potential lawsuits and geared up for fights over water.
“I’m not satisfied the states couldn’t come together. I think it’s really disappointing,” House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, told FOX 13 News in an interview.
The Speaker vowed that Utah would defend its stake on the Colorado River should push come to shove.
“We’re going to stand up. We’re going to protect Utah’s water. We’re going to protect our rights that we have on the Colorado River,” he said.
Governor Spencer Cox said in a statement on Friday that he hoped for continued negotiations between the states.
“This federal FEIS is a short-term roadmap, not a finish line. It does not settle the question. The durable answer still has to come from seven states in one room, agreeing to terms all of them can live with,” he said. “Today’s decision gives us time we didn’t have yesterday, but not much of it. Utah is at the table, and we are ready to negotiate the long-term agreement this river and the people who depend on it require.”
Senate President J. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, told FOX 13 News he was willing to make an offer to Lower Basin states.
“Utah building desalination plants for California, paying for them, let them use that additional water, growing the pie bigger, and then us using some of their Colorado River water,” he said. “If we add water to the system, hopefully we get some benefit out of it.”
Read the executive summary of the FEIS for the Colorado River here:
