Seven U.S. states that depend on the overused Colorado River on Monday reached agreement to cut consumption and help save a river that provides drinking water for 40 million people and irrigation for some of the country's most bountiful farmland.
Arizona, California and Nevada will reduce intake by 3 million acre-feet through the end of 2026, an amount equal to 13% of their river allotment, under a dealThose three make up the Lower Basin states of the century-old Colorado River Compact, which assigns water rights to them plus the four Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Monday's agreement clears a major hurdle for reaching a three-year plan for distributing water rights starting in 2024. Without a deal, the federal government might have been forced to impose cuts, likely provoking a flurry of lawsuits.followed a year of arduous negotiations that featured two blown deadlines.
"This year's hydrology was really important, and not only the rains in California," said Estevan Lopez, New Mexico's signatory to the deal as the state's commissioner to the river compact. "That made this possible, along with the funding from the IRA.
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