WASHINGTON — Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will have to live with less water next year. the Colorado River after the U.S. government announced water restrictions Thursday that will maintain the status quo. Long-term challenges remain for the 40 million people who rely on the threatened river.
The 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river is a lifeline to the American West, and also supplies water to cities and farms in northern Mexico. The river supports seven western states, more than two dozen Native American tribes, and irrigates millions of acres of farmland in the American West. The river also produces hydroelectric power that is used throughout the region.
Years of overuse, combined with rising temperatures and drought, have resulted in less water flowing into the state of Colorado than in previous decades.
The Interior Department announces the coming year’s water supply months in advance so cities, farmers and others can plan. Officials do this based on water levels in Lake Mead, one of the river’s two main reservoirs that serve as barometers of its health.
Based on those levels, Arizona will again lose 18 percent of its total Colorado River allocation, while Mexico’s will drop 5 percent. The reduction for Nevada — which receives far less water than Arizona, California or Mexico — will remain at 7 percent.
The cuts announced Thursday fall into the same “Tier 1” category that were in effect this year and in 2022. when the first federal cuts to the Colorado River went into effect and increased the crisis on the river. Even Deeper cuts followed in 2023. Farmers in Arizona were hit hardest by these cuts.
Heavier rainfall and other water conservation efforts by Arizona, California and Nevada the near-term outlook for Lake Mead and Lake Powell, which lies upstream of Mead on the Utah-Arizona border, has improved somewhat.
Officials reported Thursday that the two reservoirs were at 37% capacity.
They praised Arizona, California and Nevada’s ongoing efforts to conserve more water, which are in effect through 2026. The federal government pays water users in those states for much of that conservation. Meanwhile, states, tribes and others are negotiating how they will share the river water after 2026when many of the current guidelines for the river expire.
Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the state’s lead negotiator in those talks, said Thursday that Arizonans have “committed to incredible conservation … to protect the Colorado River system.”
“The circumstances ahead,” he added, “will likely continue to require difficult decisions.”
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Associated Press reporter Amy Taxin contributed from Santa Ana, California.
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