Upper Colorado River states add muscle as decisions loom on the shrinking river’s future
The states of the Lower Colorado River Basin have traditionally played an oversized role in tapping the lifeline that supplies 40 million people in the West. California, Nevada and Arizona were quicker to build major canals and dams and negotiated a landmark deal that requires the Upper Basin to send predictable flows through the Grand Canyon, even during dry years. But with the federal government threatening unprecedented water cuts amid decades of drought and declining reservoirs, the Upper Basin states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are muscling up to protect their shares of an overallocated river whose average flows in the Upper Basin have already dropped 20 percent over the last century. … Currently, the seven Basin states and tribes are negotiating immediate water-use reductions.
Related articles:
- Arizona Capitol Times: Feds apply pressure for water deal
- Aspen Journalism: Drought task force to consider conservation programs
- Al Jazeera: Within the Colorado River crisis, an opportunity
- Imperial Valley Press: Above-average snowpack and projected runoff will send more water from Lake Powell to Lake Mead
