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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox says he believes a new plan that Utah and the six other Colorado River Basin states are recommending to help reduce Colorado River water consumption would be "a win for everybody" if it's approved by the federal government.
Representatives of the seven Colorado Basin states — Utah, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming — announced Monday that they are proposing a new "consensus-based system conservation proposal" that Arizona, California and Nevada agreed on, which seeks to conserve at least 3 million acre-feet of the Colorado River system's water by 2026.
"It's very positive. It's something we've been working on for a long time, (and) Utah has been very engaged," Cox said following an event at Mountain Ridge High School in Herriman Monday. "It's a win for everybody. We know we have to do our part and all of the Colorado River Basin states have to do their part, as well. Just seeing everybody on board — I didn't know, a year ago, if we'd be able to get here — but I'm really happy that we're here."
The states informed U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton of their decision through a letter Monday, adding that they would try to conserve half of the 3 million acre-feet by the end of 2024.
The agreement adds a new possible option for the bureau to consider as it weighs three other options to reduce water consumption from the dams that hold Lake Powell and Lake Mead from the current operating guidelines that the state agreed on in 2007. The guidelines for the Glen Canyon and Hoover dams expire at the end of 2026.
"I am proud of the reclamation team's work and thank our partners across the basin and the (Colorado River) Basin states representatives for reaching this moment. This is an important step forward toward our shared goal of forging a sustainable path for the basin that millions of people call home," Touton added in a statement.
The Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation announced a new draft supplemental environmental impact statement for its plans to reduce river consumption last month. It offered three options at the time, including an option to do nothing, an option to reduce releases from the Glen Canyon Dam and give senior water rights holders priority among the Lower Basin states, and an option to reduce water use availability equally among the Lower Basin states.
The federal government's alternatives would save an estimated 2.083 million acre-feet, which is the most it could have saved under an emergency action.
The Lower Basin's plan would tack on about another 1 million acre-feet. Department of Interior officials said that 2.3 million acre-feet of the states' alternative would be compensated through Inflation Reduction Act funding.
It's worth noting that the Upper Basin states — Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming — aren't completely sure about the plan. The states wrote Monday that there was "insufficient time" for the Upper Basin states to "thoroughly review" the plan that the Lower Basin states agreed on with the public comment on the federal plan scheduled to wrap up on May 30.
"Nothing in this letter should be construed as an Upper Basin endorsement of the Lower Basin Plan," the representatives of the seven states wrote. "However ... the seven states support the submission by the Lower (Basin) states of the Lower Basin Plan to Reclamation concurrent with the submission of this correspondence. Further, all seven states request that Reclamation analyze the Lower Basin Plan as an action alternative under the (draft plan)."
Six of the seven states had come to an agreement on water use reductions in January, but California was the lone holdout, according to the Associated Press. Getting California to agree with the six other states on a plan "is a really big deal," Cox said Monday.
Meanwhile, the states also requested that the bureau suspend the current comment period to add the alternative for consideration, which the bureau agreed to do. Department of the Interior officials said that the bureau has temporarily withdrawn its draft supplemental environmental impact statement to review the states' proposed alternative. It will post the statement again in the near future with a new public comment deadline.
Both the federal officials and the seven states believe that a plan to cut water consumption between 2024 and 2026 can be selected by the end of this year.
"I commend our partners in the seven basin states who have demonstrated leadership and unity of purpose in developing this consensus-based approach to achieve the substantial water conservation necessary to sustain the Colorado River system through 2026," said Interior Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau, in a statement.
The plan to reduce Colorado River consumption arose as the river has struggled as a result of the Western megadrought that emerged in 2000. The river fell to a flow of about 6 million acre-feet in 2021 — roughly half of its 20-year average — because of drought, Amy Haas, the executive director of the Colorado River Authority of Utah, explained during an event about the river held last year.
Lake Powell and Lake Mead have each dropped significantly as a result, with the former reaching a new all-time low earlier this year.
While the reservoir is rapidly regaining water as this winter's record snowpack continues to melt, representatives of the seven states acknowledged Monday that this winter won't solve the "systemic challenges facing the Colorado River." They added that they hope the Bureau of Reclamation will "advance the process for the development of new operating guidelines" when the current agreement ends in 2026.
Contributing: Bridger Beal-Cvetko
