… The Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the West’s reservoirs and dams, has plans to pay cities from Gilbert to Glendale to use less of the Colorado River. In recent years, sweeping cuts to water allocations in Arizona and some other states that use the Colorado River have been made possible with big chunks of federal money. The Biden administration set aside $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act for Colorado River work. Beginning in 2022, hundreds of millions of dollars from that pool have been used to pay cities, farms and tribes to temporarily use less water. Those supplies are left behind in Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir. Propping up the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border, has become a federal priority in recent years. Its water levels are now the lowest they’ve been since the reservoir filled about 90 years ago. 

Other Colorado River management news:

• ABC7 (San Francisco): Lake Mead reaches record low levels, raising concerns about California water supplies and future costs
• Gunnison Country Times (Colo.): Colorado prepares for launch of water contribution program​
• The Acorn (Agoura Hills, Calif.): Water fight moves to next phase under federal 10-year framework
• Wyoming News Now (Cheyenne): Cheyenne BOPU speaks on Colorado River importance, water diligence
• Daily Independent (Sun City, Ariz.): Opinion: What the new Colorado River rules mean for Phoenix