While the Bureau of Reclamation in on the right track as it weighs how to split flows from the drought-stricken Colorado River, any new agreement must include “clear, binding commitments” by all states to reduce or conserve water, California’s lead negotiator said. For nearly two years, officials with the seven Colorado River states — Arizona, California and Nevada in the Lower Basin; and Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming in the Upper Basin — have been in negotiations over a new long-term operating agreement for the drought-stricken waterway. They face a November deadline from the Bureau of Reclamation to strike a deal. States negotiators revealed in June that they have begun to coalesce around a deal based on “natural flow” — or estimates of how much water would be in the river without human-interventions like diversions or dams.

Other Colorado River Basin news:

• Arizona Capitol Times (Phoenix): Arizona officials shift focus to secure state’s share of Colorado River
• KUER (Salt Lake City, Utah): One Utah man’s quest to track the bugs fighting invasive trees on the Colorado River
• Las Vegas Review-Journal (Nev.): Low water levels likely to close boat ramps along Colorado River
• Post Independent (Glenwood Springs, Colo.): Parachute adopts Water Conservation Program in lieu of changing conditions at Parachute Creek
• KSJD (Cortez, Colo.): Outdoor Report Podcast: Drought or aridification? Water future of the Colorado River Basin