Colorado water officials announced Wednesday a rough plan to figure out how the state would handle an unwelcome specter in the Colorado River Basin: forced water cuts. Mandatory water cuts are possible under a 100-year-old Colorado River Compact in certain circumstances, mainly if the river’s 10-year flow falls too low. It’s a possibility that is one or two “bad years” away, some experts say. Colorado, however, does not have a clearly defined plan, or regulations, for how exactly it would handle such forced water cuts. … If the river’s flow falls below a 10-year rolling average of about 82.5 million acre-feet, the Lower Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada — could demand that the Upper Basin send more water downstream based on the 1922 Colorado River Compact. In the water world, this is often called a “compact call.”

Other Colorado River Basin news:

• Inside Climate News: Amid tense negotiations over the Colorado River’s future, Arizona mayors unite against ‘threat’ to state’s water
• KJZZ (Phoenix, Ariz.): Conditions on the Colorado River don’t seem to be getting much better
• ABC15 (Phoenix, Ariz.): Coalition forms to protect Arizona’s water supply
• FOX13 (Salt Lake City, Utah): Capitol Hill looks at consolidating Colorado River power
• The Desert Review (Brawley, Calif.): Opinion: Finger-pointing won’t solve the Colorado River crisis