Water officials from the United States and Mexico have signed a new agreement for sharing the Colorado River. Mexico will take less water from the river under the new deal, but gain a degree of certainty about its ability to access a shrinking river with a shaky future. Expert onlookers are heralding the deal as a success and a rare example of cross-border collaboration. They said the cuts are necessary in response to a severely depleted Colorado River. … A previous agreement from 2017 will expire at the end of this year. The new one will be in effect from the beginning of 2027 to the end of 2028. For that term, Mexico will take larger cuts than it has in the past. The new deal reduces Mexico’s share of the Colorado River by 250,000 acre-feet, about 17% of its original allocation from the Colorado River.

Other Colorado River management news:

• Arizona’s Family (Phoenix): Treaty deal cuts Colorado River water use across US and Mexico
• Imperial Valley Press (El Centro, Calif.): U.S. and Mexico sign landmark Colorado River Pact, slashing water deliveries to Mexicali Valley farmers
• The Arizona Republic (Phoenix): Scottsdale’s ‘unusual’ plan to help Arizona’s water woes
• Nevada Public Radio: Tribes depend on the Colorado River, but don’t have a formal say in managing it