Nevada, Arizona and Mexico will all receive less water from the Colorado River next year because of rapidly-declining reservoirs. States need to conserve an additional 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water to protect levels at Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
And now, water officials are grappling with how to make do with less.
Touton said the states need to conserve an additional 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water next year to protect levels at Lake Powell in Arizona and Utah and Lake Mead in Nevada and Arizona.Nevada, Arizona and Mexico will all receive less water from the Colorado River next year because of rapidly-declining reservoirs, the Interior Department announced on Aug. 16.But the state’s existing water conservation programs could be under increased scrutiny.
In 2021, water managers considered releasing even more water from Navajo Reservoir to help water levels in downstream reservoirs.“Ultimately, we argued against it,” he said. “Reclamation would perhaps not have been able to fulfill its contractual obligations to folks like the Navajo Nation and Jicarilla Apache and others that depend on water out of Navajo.”
“It’s important for us to invest in things like outdoor water conservation and reuse,” Morris said. “It’s quite possible that there just won’t be as much San Juan-Chama water available in the future because of drought and climate change.”ADVERTISEMENTThat could change as more tribes reach water rights settlements and build out infrastructure to use those rights.
“The term ‘consultation’ gets thrown around in the basin a whole lot,” Vigil said. “But if you know one tribe, you only know one tribe. Having a seat at the table means working with every tribe to learn their specific water rights and needs.”
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