{"id":1401,"date":"2026-05-07T21:43:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T21:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/?p=1401"},"modified":"2026-05-07T23:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T23:30:25","slug":"arizona-california-nevada-reached-new-colorado-river-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/2026\/05\/07\/arizona-california-nevada-reached-new-colorado-river-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Arizona, California and Nevada reached a new Colorado River deal. What comes next?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Seven U.S. states have been deadlocked for years in negotiations around a plan to manage the shrinking Colorado River. Water supplies for 40 million people who depend on the river are on the brink after a dismal winter snowpack<\/a> and reservoirs at record lows. With river management rules set to expire in just months, Arizona, California and Nevada stepped up with a short-term bridge proposal<\/a> to collaborate on water use reductions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bridge is an important step, but will it catalyze long-term solutions across the basin? Tough decisions must be made on how we manage this shrinking river, and time is nearly up. This bridge proposal buys us one final overtime period<\/a> to figure out how to take control of our own future, and we have a lot left to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s in this bridge proposal? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Lower Basin states agreed to collectively work to reduce water use from the Colorado River by at least 3.2 million acre-feet (AF) through 2028. In addition to mandatory reductions each year \u2014 760,000 AF for Arizona, 440,000 AF for California, and 50,000 AF for Nevada \u2014 the states are targeting 700,000 AF of conservation. For comparison, in 2022 and 2023, the first years of shortage under the 2019 Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan, mandatory shortages in the Lower Basin totalled 533,000 AF and 617,000 AF, respectively. This bridge proposal\u2019s water use reductions will make a meaningful difference in the short term. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal includes a new Tribal pool in Lake Mead to help ensure the federal government meets its trust obligations to Tribes in Arizona, the first of its kind on the Colorado River. It also extends \u201cintentionally created surplus\u201d, an adaptive water management tool that allows banking water in Lake Mead for future use, with future withdrawal limits tied to reservoir levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other features include protecting critical water levels at Glen Canyon Dam with deadlines for the federal government to develop a plan for how to pass water through the dam when water levels are low. The details of implementing these elements matter for a flowing Colorado River in the Grand Canyon and beyond. Under the status quo, a collapse of the Colorado River as we know it through the Grand Canyon<\/a> is possible in the near future. This once unthinkable scenario would be a failure that the next generation will hold us accountable for, and rightly so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Camping
A beach on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, one of the Eight Wonders of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The river courses through 11 national parks and monuments. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Priorities for a resilient Colorado River<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We need to use this overtime period wisely.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal government is considering whether to approve the bridge proposal. Considerations that keep the door open with the Upper Basin to a seven-state agreement will be important in the next steps. Both the Lower and Upper Basin states have expressed openness to continuing negotiations with a mediator<\/a> \u2014 and it\u2019s critically important for these negotiations to continue even as any Lower Basin bridge agreement is being implemented. Mexico and the 30 sovereign Tribes in the basin must also have a meaningful role shaping any outcome. What we decide to do in this overtime period may be one of the more consequential decisions of our generation in the western United States. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need sustainable funding.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Federal funding is a critical need for a sustainable future in the Colorado River Basin, including for the stop gaps in the bridge proposal. Given the emergency at hand, a good part of this funding is likely to be used to generate short-term water savings and mitigation<\/a>. While necessary, we cannot lose sight of the need to invest in permanent water use reductions and transition local economies toward a resilient future with less water, while creating new jobs and opportunities. Taxpayers must see real and lasting public benefits in order for public funding to be sustained for the long term. At some point soon, we must shift our approach from crisis management to building the future we want. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sustainable, state-based funding mechanisms play an essential role, too. For example, Colorado dedicates revenue from sports betting to water<\/a>. Within Arizona, discussions in the state Legislature about creating a Colorado River Protection Fund<\/a> tied to new fees from data centers offer an innovative path forward \u2014 if it passes. State funding mechanisms, including those within the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona<\/a>, also serve as important funding multipliers, whether through federal matching, public private partnerships, or other innovative financing arrangements. All options are becoming increasingly necessary to support adaptation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to adapt to less water, at a massive scale, across the West.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

California and Arizona water agencies and the Arizona Legislature must also approve the bridge proposal. The still-to-be-worked-out details of intrastate plans matter for communities as much as any multistate Colorado River agreement. Arizona is agreeing to a 27% mandatory reduction of its Colorado River supply \u2014 a significant commitment equal to over 10% of the state\u2019s total <\/em>annual water use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like virtually everywhere across the Colorado River Basin and the West, we must adapt here in Arizona, the state that I call home. To keep thriving in Arizona as conditions only get drier and warmer, a broad menu of adaptation actions will be needed, including building out systems to access the water we\u2019ve long stored underground for times of shortage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also need to continue to build new regional wastewater recycling facilities, upgrade infrastructure such as Bartlett Lake Dam and explore other augmentation opportunities, and expand forest health and restoration programs. Innovative water sharing partnerships<\/a> are already taking root, and the future may hold opportunities for new regional economic development partnerships that facilitate transitions to low water use economies<\/a> while also bringing new jobs and opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to protect the water we have.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A significant portion of the Colorado River that we\u2019ve relied on in the past in Arizona is no longer there. Groundwater has been and will continue to be an essential resource in the basin.  However, over the last 20 years, more water was lost in the Colorado River Basin from groundwater pumping than the entire capacity of Lake Mead<\/a>, the largest reservoir in the U.S. About three-quarters of that loss occurred in Arizona. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bipartisan community leaders and citizens on the front lines are making history to protect their local groundwater supplies for the first time ever in Cochise<\/a>, La Paz<\/a> and Mohave<\/a> counties. With Colorado River supplies declining, even more focus is needed to defend against ongoing efforts to weaken the groundwater protections we have \u2013 efforts demonstrated by numerous bills advanced in the Arizona Legislature in recent years. 

Fortunately, these bills have thus far been stopped<\/a>, but the threats continue. Just weeks ago, a Maricopa County superior court judge issued an initial decision in favor of a homebuilder industry lobby group that could jeopardize <\/a>a key groundwater management program that has protected millions of urban homeowners for decades. With nearly 50% of the land mass of the Colorado River Basin in Arizona, protecting our groundwater supplies here is an essential part of a future where every person across the basin enjoys basic water security. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need to get Tribal water rights settlements across the finish line.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Tribal water rights settlements in Arizona are currently awaiting final ratification and funding in Congress<\/a>. When passed, these settlements will finally resolve longstanding water claims; end decades-long litigation; greatly increase water certainty for everyone; and benefit the settling Nations, neighboring communities and the entire state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the Colorado River dwindling, it is essential to secure other critical water supplies like the Verde River. The Yavapai-Apache Nation Water Rights Settlement Act<\/a> is a historic opportunity to do exactly that. In addition, the Northeastern Arizona Water Rights Settlement Act<\/a> would provide long overdue improvement in water security for the Navajo Nation, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute and get water to homes for the first time ever, unlocking new water management and economic development opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Verde River is another critical water supply in Arizona. (Finetooth, CC BY-SA 3.0 https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What does a sustainable future look like?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last fall, shortly after the Colorado River Indian Tribes passed a resolution acknowledging the personhood of the Colorado River under the Tribal Nation\u2019s laws, Chairwoman Amelia Flores offered us direction<\/a>, saying, \u201cIf we are to protect this resource for the future, we must think beyond terms of what it can provide to us; we must think of what we can provide to it. Our collective future depends on it<\/em>.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tired and fractured way we manage the Colorado River, which brings us to the brink every few years, is breaking down. It can\u2019t sustain us for the long term. It\u2019s time to ask, what does sustainable river governance look like to enable our kids to continue living and thriving in this place we call home, in our urban, rural, and Tribal communities across the Southwest? Whether this Lower Basin proposal can be a bridge to that future might depend on the collective choices we make in this one last overtime period.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seven U.S. states have been deadlocked for years in negotiations around a plan to manage the shrinking Colorado River. Water supplies for 40 million people who depend on the river are on the brink after a dismal winter snowpack and reservoirs at record lows. With river management rules set to expire in just months, Arizona, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127579,"featured_media":1402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,4,3,21,127],"tags":[15,43,17,38],"coauthors":[32],"class_list":["post-1401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-arizona","category-california","category-colorado-river","category-groundwater","category-nevada","tag-agriculture","tag-colorado-river","tag-drought","tag-groundwater"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1401"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1414,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401\/revisions\/1414"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1401"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}