Overview
- Federal officials this week are drafting a 10-year operating plan that would set mandatory water cuts and require the seven basin states to reassess allocations every two years.
- The proposal could demand large near-term reductions to deliveries to cities, farms, tribes, and hydropower users, with some reporting that cuts under consideration could approach roughly one-third of supplies.
- Lower Basin states have already offered about 3.2 million acre-feet of voluntary cuts for 2027–2028, but the federal plan could overlap with or exceed that offer and reshape how shortages are shared.
- Record-low snowpack has driven emergency operations this season, including transfers into Lake Powell and reduced flows into Lake Mead, leaving reservoirs at critically low levels that the federal plan seeks to protect.
- States remain split over the approach, Arizona is preparing legal defenses, and the seven governors have asked Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to release $550 million in remaining IRA funds while longer-term fixes like desalination and recycling are explored.