California Isn't Playing Nice On The Colorado River

By MacKenzie Elmer, the Voice of San Diego

February 3, 2023

California isn’t getting along with other Western states that use — and need to use less — of the drought-stricken Colorado River water.

In a nutshell, California told the federal government this week it already committed to reducing its use of the river last year, beyond what it’s legally obligated to do, and the other users should have to make up the rest. The other six states – Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah – said California is the biggest user so it should shoulder the biggest cut.

January 31 marked a big deadline for states to cut their use voluntarily, without the federal government telling them how. A day before that deadline, everyone but California signed onto a proposal that would commit states to cut their water use by the amount that evaporates from their respective water delivery systems. That means California, with large systems to transport river water, would shoulder a large hit.

No way, said California, by way of releasing its own plan a day later. That plan reiterated what the state committed to back in October – when it said it was willing to reduce its use by 400,000 acre feet (an acre foot of water is enough to cover one acre of land, one foot deep). But that wouldn’t conserve the 2 million to 4 million acre feet per year the federal government asked for. For context, 4 million acre feet is almost as much as California is allotted each year. And so, de facto, the water savings would have to come from the other basin states.

The Colorado River serves 40 million people in seven states in the U.S. and northern Mexico. Drought, intensified by a changing climate and overuse, are contributing to dangerously low water levels on the river’s biggest reservoirs – Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Both are about a quarter full.

The federal government has sent warnings that if basin states cannot agree on how to voluntarily cut their use and preserve water levels, it would step in and tell them how. But so far the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation allowed states to blow past an August deadline. January 31 was the second attempt at a deadline to come up with ways to use less water.

California is not only the biggest user on the river, it holds some of the oldest rights to that water under a series of agreements and contracts made over a hundred years ago known as “the law of the river.” That dictates a pecking order as to who loses river water depending on availability at Lake Mead. California’s Imperial Irrigation District, which feeds water to a $2 billion agricultural industry in Imperial Valley, is virtually last in line to be cut by force.

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico are first in line and already face mandatory water cuts. Under California’s plan, Arizona would bear the brunt of the cuts while Nevada would make up the rest. Under the plan Arizona and Nevada signed on to, California would bear the brunt of the cuts.

It’s clear the rift between California and the other basin states is only growing. JB Hamby, chair of the Colorado River Board of California and member of the Imperial Irrigation District board, told the Associated Press that California may file a lawsuit if the federal government attempts to count for evaporation like in the other basin states’ plan.

Over the next few months, the federal government will weigh these proposals as it comes up with a plan to keep the river running.

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