Overview
- The Bureau of Reclamation released its Record of Decision on Aug. 22 ordering mandatory cuts that will reduce Colorado River deliveries to the Lower Basin by 1.25 million acre-feet over the next two years with Arizona bearing about 760,000 acre-feet, California about 440,000 acre-feet and Nevada about 50,000 acre-feet.
- The plan directs the Lower Basin to pursue an additional 700,000 acre-feet of voluntary conservation over three years to supplement the mandatory cuts.
- Upper Basin states — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — will not face mandatory supply reductions in the initial two-year plan because federal authority to force cuts is stronger in the Lower Basin.
- Officials tied the move to very low reservoir levels, with Lake Powell near 3,519 feet, and said the goal is to protect Glen Canyon Dam outlets and hydropower turbines that could fail if the lake falls below critical elevations.
- The Record of Decision includes tribal water set-asides, directs implementation steps ahead of the Oct. 1 operating year, and warns cuts could expand substantially if reservoirs keep falling, a change that could hit cities, farms, utilities and prompt legal and political challenges.