A New Colorado River Plan Requires Water Cuts for Three States

Arizona, California and Nevada will be required to curb their use of the water from the Colorado River by a combined 20 percent over the next two years — and could ultimately face even larger cuts, according to three officials familiar with negotiations over a long-awaited federal plan to rescue the depleted waterway.

The plan, part of which the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation described in an environmental impact statement early on Friday morning, comes at a time of escalating crisis for the Colorado River, a crucial water source for seven states, 30 Native tribes and a swath of northwestern Mexico. But experts say it will not be sufficient to resolve a political standoff among the river’s many users or prevent the beleaguered waterway from teetering toward collapse.

Friday’s announcement outlines a broad 10-year framework for operating the river’s dams and reservoirs. It calls for more specific operating plans to be developed every two years and offers a wide range of possible measures those plans could include — including reducing the amount of water released to the Lower Basin by as much as 40 percent.

Please select this link to read the complete artcle from The Washington Post.