By Andrew Hay
July 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is considering adopting much of a proposal by Arizona, California and Nevada to reduce water use on the drought-stricken Colorado River, according to Arizona’s chief negotiator, a step that could spare the states steeper federal cuts.
With a 20-year-old plan expiring this year and talks among seven states that share the river at an impasse, the three Lower Basin states presented the bureau on May 1 with a short-term proposal to deal with severe water shortages.
Without a deal among the seven states, the bureau will impose its own preferred plan by early August.
Should the bureau adopt the Lower Basin’s water-saving goals, it would mark a reprieve for Arizona, which, under a bureau proposal, risked losing Colorado River water that millions of people in Phoenix and Tucson use.
“We’ve had some very positive discussions with Reclamation about Reclamation adopting largely the Lower Basin proposal in a way that would be acceptable to us,” Tom Buschatzke, Arizona’s chief negotiator in the talks, said in a phone interview on Wednesday. “I think we’re getting close to delivering that with Reclamation.”
Bureau spokesperson Peter Soeth said in a statement on Thursday that the agency received input from Upper Basin states on the Lower Basin proposal, had made several adjustments to it, and remained “committed to a continued dialog” with states and tribal nations.
Lower Basin states proposed water savings of at least 3.2 million acre-feet through 2028 to maintain critical Colorado River reservoir levels. That represented about half the maximum cuts the bureau proposed.
Lower Basin states are talking with the bureau about its amendments to their proposal to address concerns about the use of reservoirs above Lake Powell, Buschatzke said. Negotiators for California and Nevada did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“I consider this a Lower Basin breakthrough but I doubt it will do much to break the stalemate between the Upper Division states and Lower Division,” said Eric Kuhn, a water researcher and former general manager of the Colorado River District, a public agency that manages and advocates for Colorado’s interests in the Colorado River.
Upper Basin states have objected to key elements of the Lower Basin proposal and the seven states could still end up in court over operating rules.
A spokesperson for Utah’s Colorado River agency said on Wednesday Upper Basin states were in “productive” talks with the bureau over “short-term” river operations. Negotiators for Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; editing by Donna Bryson, Rod Nickel and David Gregorio)
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