Upper Colorado River States Add Muscle as Decisions Loom on the Shrinking River’s Future

Flows in the White River (pictured above) and other tributaries of the upper Colorado River have declined dramatically and contributed to the precipitous declines of Lake Powell and Lake Mead. (Source: The Water Desk)

The states of the Lower Colorado River Basin have traditionally played an oversized role in tapping the lifeline that supplies 40 million people in the West. California, Nevada and Arizona were quicker to build major canals and dams and negotiated a landmark deal that requires the Upper Basin to send predictable flows through the Grand Canyon, even during dry years.

But with the federal government threatening unprecedented water cuts amid decades of drought and declining reservoirs, the Upper Basin states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are muscling up to protect their shares of an overallocated river whose average flows in the Upper Basin have already dropped 20 percent over the last century.

They have formed new agencies to better monitor their interests, moved influential Colorado River veterans into top negotiating posts and improved their relationships with Native American tribes that also hold substantial claims to the river.

“I see [the Upper Basin states] absolutely gearing up and being ready for a full-blown confrontation with the Lower Basin.”

Pat Mulroy, former general manager
Southern Nevada Water Authority

While the Upper Basin has had a joint-bargaining arm in the Upper Colorado River Commission since 1948, the individual states are organizing outside the commission and doing more to look out for their own interests.

Pat Mulroy, who helped shape Colorado River water policy for nearly 30 years as former general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, said the moves signal a […]

Full article: www.watereducation.org