3 downstream Colorado River states must cut water in new 2-year plan

GRAND LAKE — The future of the Colorado River, which provides water to communities across Colorado, is more clear — at least for the next two years. 

The federal government released Friday its near-term management plan for the river system, which provides vital water supplies to nearly 40 million people. The river is the workhorse of the West and the reason communities and economies have been able to grow to what they are today. But it has also been overstressed by rising temperatures, ongoing drought and persistent demands while water regulations have been slow to address the looming need for water restrictions. 

Now, downstream states will bear the brunt of those mandatory water cuts, totaling 1.25 million acre-feet, under the new river plan for 2027 and 2028. Upstream states, like Colorado, are being called on to conserve water and help avoid crisis lows at the river basin’s key reservoirs, but do not have to cut their water use.

“These decisions provide a water management strategy for Basin stakeholders to respond to the prolonged drought by incorporating flexible tools and voluntary actions while leaving room for consensus agreements,” Andrea Travnicek, the Bureau of Reclamation’s assistant secretary of water and science, said in a statement Friday.

The basin’s communities have endured three years of heated debates over how to manage the river’s key reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, after 2026, when the current rules expire. 

In the past, the river’s management was led by the seven basin states. But the states failed to reach an agreement during tense negotiations over everything from the level of mandatory cuts to the time period for the next set of rules. Those negotiations are not over: The federal government has said it will incorporate a seven-state agreement into its management plan as soon as the states can reach a consensus.

Washington officials moved on with the federal planning process when states missed several deadlines to contribute a united proposal. It announced this summer that the next set of rules will last for 10 years, and states and tribes will weigh in on reservoir management with new operational plans every two years. 

The Department of the Interior and its subagency, the Bureau of Reclamation, said the 2027-2028 plan is based on feedback from the states and tribal nations in the basin. 

The Secretary of the Interior, who has the authority to decide shortages for the downstream states, plans to cut releases from Hoover Dam by 1.25 million acre-feet each year for the next two years. 

That means Arizona will reduce its water use by 760,000 acre-feet, California will cut its use by 440,000 acre-feet and Nevada will have to cut its use by 50,000 acre-feet. 

The plan for the next two years also includes voluntary conservation targets for the downstream states totaling 700,000 acre-feet of water savings over the two-year period. That’s in addition to the required cuts. 

One acre-foot roughly equals the annual water use of two to four households. Colorado uses about 5.3 million acre-feet of water each year from multiple rivers. It used less than 2 million acre-feet of Colorado River water on average between 2021 and 2025, according to federal records.

While the Interior Department can decide shortages for the downstream states, it does not have the same authority in the four upstream states, including Colorado. Its authority mostly involves managing federal water projects, like Blue Mesa Dam and its sister dams, Morrow Point and Crystal, in western Colorado.

Colorado and the other upstream states, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah, will likely enter into an agreement to use those federal dams, including Blue Mesa, to help avoid critically low water levels at Lake Powell, on the Utah-Arizona border. 

At Lake Powell, the federal government’s main goal is to manage Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam in a way that protects the dam’s hydropower facility, water intakes and other infrastructure while balancing its water release obligations. 

The bureau has announced and adjusted its target elevations at Lake Powell several times over recent years, ranging from 3,500 to 3,525 feet above sea level. The bureau’s minimum elevation target is 3,510 feet for the next two years. If the water level drops too close to that point, the bureau might take preventive steps, like changing the amount of water the dam is releasing, to keep more water in the reservoir. 

If the water level falls below 3,490 feet, Glen Canyon Dam can no longer generate hydropower, cutting a source of renewable, cheap and reliable energy for communities across the West. Powell’s elevation was 3,519 feet above sea level Thursday. 

This is a developing story that will be updated.