US EditionDeadline Arrives Tuesday for Colorado River Agreement Between Nevada, 6 Other States
Seven basin states missed the Nov. 11 deadline to agree on post-2026 Colorado River water management, risking federal intervention amid drought and reservoir declines.
- Nov. 11's federal deadline passed as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation-led talks remained deadlocked among Nevada and six other Colorado River Basin states on Post-2026 Operational Guidelines affecting 40 million people.
- Prolonged drought and depleted reserves have exposed aging Mid-20th-century infrastructure, as the Colorado River Basin now holds about 20% less water than a century ago, undermining resilience.
- In Colorado, storage is limited by depleted banked reserves and risks like landslides at Morrow Reservoir, while Glen Canyon Dam's four 8-foot-wide tubes constrain operations.
- If states cannot produce a plan, the U.S. Department of the Interior indicated it will act, and John Berggren warned lawsuits could take decades to resolve.
- After more than two years of talks, the seven Colorado River Basin states still face unresolved equity and risk questions, with closed-door negotiations leaving which states may face cuts open, possibly next year.
66 Articles
66 Articles
Deadline passed, Arizona governor says Colorado River headwater states uncommitted to conservation
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs says Colorado and other upstream states aren't sufficiently committed to sharing and conserving water in the Colorado River system. The seven states that share the river water missed a federal deadline Tuesday to make progress on…
No deal on Colorado River as Western states fail to reach agreement by feds’ Nov. 11 deadline
Water managers from the seven states that share the Colorado River have blown a deadline given to them by the federal government to come up with a rough plan on how the drought-stricken river will be shared in the future. The Upper Basin (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) still cannot find agreement with the Lower Basin (California, Arizona and Nevada) about how the nation’s two largest reservoirs — Lake Powell and Lake Mead — will be oper…
Nevada Current
With Upper, Lower basin states still snagged, feds give them more time to craft Colorado River plan
One of the biggest disagreements between the Upper and Lower Basin states is over which faction should have to cut back on their water use, and by how much. (Hoover Dam photo: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation)Nevada and six other Colorado River states failed to reach a broad agreement Tuesday on how to share the river’s dwindling water supply, missing a federally-imposed deadline after days of intense closed-door negotiations. Despite missing the dead…
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