Arizona and Nevada water officials voiced frustration this week that a deal to conserve a vast amount of water needed to protect the levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell has not been reached.
The Bureau of Reclamation called the seven Colorado River basin states to come up with a plan to conserve 2 million to 4 million acre-feet of Colorado River next year in order to protect power production and ability to release water from the lakes. The states missed the deadline, and no new deadline has been announced. Colorado Springs and other Front Range cities rely heavily on the Colorado River for water and could be impacted by future calls for conservation.
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Arizona and Nevada officials submitted a plan that would have achieved 2 million acre-feet in conservation, but it was rejected by California and U.S. officials, who preferred relying more on voluntary cuts, Arizona officials said.
"We are not going to rely on voluntary programs that create a level of uncertainty," said Tom Buschatske, Arizona Department of Water Resources director. Arizona water officials did not share exactly what cuts they proposed, but said they were largely proportional to the amount of water the states receive. California receives the largest share of water in the Lower Basin.
Arizona officials also want to see lasting solutions to use less water on the basin and not rely too heavily on paying farmers and ranchers one year at a time not to take their water, said Ted Cooke, general manager of the Central Arizona Project. Those expenditures are not a good use of the billions that have been allocated by the federal government to invest in infrastructure.
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The Upper Basin states, including Colorado, also caught criticism at a news conference Tuesday for submitting a broad plan to the federal government about how they could cut water that includes no volumes, Cooke said. But he understood that the Upper Basin states are likely to look to the Lower Basin states for more certainty around cuts as well.
Colorado along with the other Upper Basin states of Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming, have had to make cuts to cope with the megadrought and ensure water is delivered downstream to Lake Powell. The states could also see more emergency releases from reservoirs to protect the levels Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the bureau said Tuesday.
However, cuts will hit hardest in Arizona and Nevada. The two states will see the first-ever tier 2A shortage declared Tuesday for Lake Meade. Arizona will not receive 592,000 acre-feet of water or 21% of its Colorado River rights next year, and Nevada will lose 25,000 acre-feet of water or 8% of its rights. California will not see any cutbacks under the guidelines agreed to in 2007. Arizona sees the largest share of cutbacks because of a deal that was cut to build the Central Arizona Project, a canal that delivers water from the Colorado River to the Phoenix metro area and farms in the central area of the state.
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Still, Buschatske said the cuts are disproportionately hurting Arizona, a state that saw vast amounts of farmland fallowed this year under the previous shortage declaration.
"We at least expect people to be able to keep up with what Arizona is doing," Cooke said.
Colorado has argued in the past that its water users have made cutbacks to keep up with the drought and the Lower Basin states are taking more than their fair share.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority also argued in a strongly worded letter that more needs to be done particularly in the Lower Basin states, where the bulk of the water is used.
"Every single drop we are short of achieving 2 million to 4 million acre-feet in permanent reductions draws us a step closer to the catastrophic collapse of the system," wrote John Entsminger, general manager of the authority.
Entsminger and the Arizona officials called on the federal government to help move the process along faster.
"Without active and aggressive federal leadership, the states have always wallowed," Entsminger said.
He also outlined actions the states could take such as creating a basin-wide municipal turf removal program, investments in water reuse and recycling, and accelerating modifications at Glen Canyon Dam that will increase predictability and reliability of releases under low reservoir conditions.
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The bureau did commit Tuesday to studying whether changes could be made to Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell and the Hoover Dam at Lake Mead to allow water to be pumped and released from elevation below current deadpool levels.
Pat Wells, Colorado Springs Utilities general manager of water resources and demand management, said his agency was aware of possible changes to the hydroelectric systems, as a utility that also provides power and the future management of the basin will require similar new solutions.
"It is going to take a lot of innovation — a lot of creative thinking," he said.
