Charles V. Stern, Pervaze A. Sheikh and Kristen Hite have produced this updated (1 November 2023) CRS Report: 'Management of the Colorado River - Water Allocations, Drought, and the Federal Role'.
Download CRS_Report_Mgmt_CR_Water_Allocation_Drought_Fed_Role_1Nov2023
This report is long compared to the CRS reports I usually post so I will post just the introductory material and some figures and tables. You can read the entire report by downloading the above PDFs. Click on the graphics to enlarge them.
Introduction
The Colorado River Basin covers more than 246,000 square miles in seven U.S. states (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California) and Mexico. Pursuant to federal law, the Bureau of Reclamation (part of the Department of the Interior) manages much of the basin’s water supplies. Colorado River water is used primarily for agricultural irrigation and municipal and industrial (M&I) uses; it is also important for hydropower production, fish and wildlife, and recreational uses.
River Management
A collection of compacts, treaties, statutes, and other authorities govern Colorado River allocations and apportionments. The foundational management document, the Colorado River Compact of 1922, established a framework to apportion water supplies between the river’s Upper and Lower Basins, divided at Lee Ferry, AZ. The compact allocated 7.5 million acre-feet (MAF) annually to each basin, and a 1994 treaty made an additional 1.5 MAF in annual flows available to Mexico. A Supreme Court case and related decrees inform the Secretary of the Interior’s management of the delivery of all water below Hoover Dam.
Apportioned Colorado River water exceeds the river’s natural flows, and actual consumptive use plus other water losses (e.g., evaporation) typically exceeds flows. This imbalance, coupled with a long-term drought dating to 2000, has stressed basin water supplies. Reclamation closely tracks the status of two large reservoirs—Lake Powell in the Upper Basin and Lake Mead in the Lower Basin—as indicators of basin storage conditions. Since the onset of drought in the early 2000s, storage levels at these reservoirs have fallen. To alleviate these trends, water releases from both lakes have been tied to specific water storage levels. Since 2020, pursuant to previous agreements, Reclamation has reduced water deliveries in Arizona and Nevada and reduced its deliveries to Mexico. In the Upper Basin, Lake Powell’s storage also has continued to drop; some worry this could jeopardize hydropower generation at Glen Canyon Dam. Wet conditions in 2023 improved the short-term outlook for both reservoirs.Efforts to Address Drought
The federal government has led multiple efforts to improve the basin’s water supply outlook, resulting in collaborative agreements in 2003 and 2007 and in the 2019 drought contingency plans (DCPs) for the Upper and Lower Colorado River Basins. In 2022, due to widespread concern about the basin’s long-term water supplies, Reclamation initiated a process to revise its near-term operational guidelines for river management. In April 2023, the bureau published a draft environmental impact statement with action alternatives that would have imposed additional water delivery cutbacks on Lower Basin contractors. On May 22, 2023, the Department of the Interior and basin states announced a consensus-based proposal in which the three Lower Basin states will conserve a total of 3 MAF prior to 2026, with 2.3 MAF of these cuts compensated by the federal government using previously appropriated funds. Reclamation is analyzing this proposal in the context of improved 2023 hydrology and expects to finalize a near-term plan by the end of 2023. Parallel to this process, Reclamation is analyzing options for long-term (post-2026) basin operations.Congressional Role
Congress funds and oversees management of basin water and power facilities. Congress has enacted legislation affecting Colorado River waters (e.g., Indian water rights settlements, new water storage facilities) and authorizing water shortage mitigation (e.g., the DCPs and other related efforts). Section 50233 of P.L. 117-169 (popularly known as the Inflation Reduction Act) provided $4.0 billion for drought mitigation in the West, and this funding will compensate water contractors for recently agreed-upon delivery reductions. Most of the recent efforts to improve the basin’s water supply outlook expire in 2026. Congress may consider further amending existing authorities or funding mitigation activities for basin water shortages.
Enjoy!
"Knowledge isn't power until it is applied." - Dale Carnegie (quoted in @Forbes via @TheWeek)
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