Overview
- The Metropolitan Water District’s board approved the deal Tuesday to leave up to 200,000 acre-feet of its Colorado River allotment in Lake Mead in exchange for up to $65 million paid by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
- The Bureau will pay $325 per acre-foot under the agreement, which uses funds from the Inflation Reduction Act’s Lower Colorado River Basin conservation program; one acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, enough water for roughly three households for a year.
- The board also approved agreements that let federal funding pay the Quechan Tribe and Bard Water District to contribute up to 19,000 acre-feet of conserved agricultural water to Lake Mead in 2027 and 2028.
- Lake Mead stood near 1,042.5 feet on July 15, just above its lowest recorded level, and officials warn further declines could sharply cut hydropower at Hoover Dam and strain water supplies for cities and farms.
- Similar pay-for-conservation deals have been used before and officials call this a short-term measure that buys time while the seven basin states and the federal government work toward longer-term rules before current guidelines expire.