Six states crafted a proposal for addressing the Colorado River crisis. Now, California has offered its counterproposal for dividing water cuts.
California has given the federal government its own counterproposal for apportioning reductions of Colorado River water, saying a plan offered by six other states would disproportionately burden farms and cities in Southern California.
States dependent on Colorado River supplies have missed yet another deadline for agreeing to water cuts. Will the federal government step in? California agencies including the Imperial Irrigation District and the Palo Verde Irrigation District, which deliver water to vast farmlands, have high-priority senior water rights dating back more than a century. California officials have insisted that these water rights and the existing law of the river must be upheld in any plan for reducing water use.
“As of this point in time, we were not able to reach that consensus, but we hope to achieve that moving forward,” Hamby said. “We need to be able to reach consensus among the seven basin states to come up with voluntary approaches where each state is comfortable with the direction.” Federal officials in June called for the seven states to come up with plans to reduce water diversions by approximately 15% to 30%. But negotiations among the states grew tense and acrimonious and didn’t produce a deal.
“I don’t think there is disagreement on the magnitude of the reductions that are needed,” said John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. “We need this magnitude of cuts in order to stabilize the system.” Entsminger said even though the states haven’t reached a consensus yet, he’s hoping “we can come up with something everybody can live with.”
“To do that in a matter of months on a system that’s been built over a century, we think is not the approach to build consensus,” Crowfoot said. “Let’s focus on what the task at hand ... which is making changes in water conservation here in the coming months.”
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