Climate Point: States fail to agree on Colorado River cuts by the deadline
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I’m Erin Rode in Palm Springs, California.
In a much-anticipated week of Colorado River news, the Bureau of Reclamation announced Tuesday that Lake Mead levels have dropped low enough to trigger cuts to Arizona and Nevada’s water allocations.
Arizona will lose 592,000 acre-feet of its river allocation in 2023, which represents 21% of its usual delivery, and Nevada will give up 25,000 acre-feet, or about 8% of its allocation, Debra Utacia Krol reports for The Arizona Republic. Mexico’s share will also be cut by 104,000 acre-feet, or about 7% of its allocation. These reductions all stem from a Drought Contingency Plan that the Lower Basin states agreed to in 2019.
California was spared for now because it holds more senior water rights, but cuts in California begin once the lake’s elevation drops to between 1,040 and 1,045 feet, which could happen by the end of this year.
Separately, the seven states that rely on Colorado River water failed to meet a deadline Tuesday to agree on how they’ll use between 2 million and 4 million less acre-feet from the river next year. In June, the Bureau of Reclamation told the seven states to negotiate among themselves to determine how to attain that reduction, or have restrictions imposed on them by the federal government.
But the Bureau of Reclamation didn’t follow through on this threat on Tuesday, instead emphasizing the need for “consensus” and “partnership” between the seven states. Reclamation outlined several of its own planned actions to improve the long-term sustainability of the Colorado River system, but didn’t state a new hard deadline for action from the states.
In a scathing letter on Monday, Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager John J. Entsminger wrote that “the last sixty-two days produced exactly nothing in terms of meaningful collective action to help forestall the looming crisis."
Entsminger's letter also called for a new "beneficial use criteria" for Lower Basin water users, “eliminating wasteful and antiquated water use practices and uses of water no longer appropriate for this Basin’s limited resources.”
The Bureau of Reclamation’s list of planned actions announced on Tuesday also referenced potentially using its authority to examine what counts as a beneficial use of water in the Lower Basin states. Reclamation plans to “prioritize and prepare for additional administrative initiatives that would ensure maximum efficient and beneficial use of urban and agricultural water,” according to a press release issued Tuesday.
"They can focus on that in Nevada if they want to," said Stephen Benson, farmer in California’s Imperial Valley and a former board member of both the Imperial Irrigation District and the Imperial County Farm Bureau, when I asked him about beneficial use criteria.
The Imperial Irrigation District holds the largest and among the oldest California rights to Colorado River water, with an annual allocation of 3.1 million acre-feet, about 70% of California’s total allocation. For its part, IID issued a statement saying it “continues to be a willing partner” in addressing the drought’s impacts on the river.
In other news, President Biden officially signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law on Tuesday. Expert analysis predicts that the surprise deal will get the U.S. most of the way toward a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by half by 2030, Kyle Bagenstose writes for USA Today. But the bigger challenge will come in 2050, when scientists say we need to reach net zero emissions.
Need a refresher on what’s in the sweeping climate change legislation? Bagenstose and Elizabeth Weise wrote a round-up of what’s included for USA Today.
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