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Arizona and Nevada will face reduced water withdrawals from the Colorado River for the second year in a row as the western U.S. suffers from extreme drought, federal officials announced.
The cuts planned for next year will force states to make key decisions about where to reduce consumption and whether to prioritize developing cities or agricultural areas.
The cuts will also put new pressure on state officials to plan for a hotter, drier future and a growing population. Mexico will also face cuts.
“We are taking steps to protect the 40 million people who depend on the Colorado River for their livelihoods,” said Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Tutton.
The river supplies water to seven states and Mexico, and helps feed a $15 billion-a-year agricultural industry.
Cities and farms are anxiously awaiting official estimates of the river’s future water levels, which will determine the extent and scope of cuts to their water supplies.
In addition to the cuts already agreed to, the Bureau of Reclamation said states have missed a deadline to propose cuts of at least 15 percent to prevent further declines in river cisterns.
For example, officials predict that the water level of Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, will drop further. The lake is currently less than a quarter full.
“States collectively have yet to identify and take concrete action on a sufficient scale to stabilize the system,” Ms Tutton said.
After putting last year’s burden on agriculture, Arizona officials will have to decide whether to spread the extra pain to developing cities that depend on rivers.
The cuts are not expected to have a real impact on Nevada, which has implemented some of the most aggressive conservation policies in the region, including a grass ban and a tax rebate program.
Oxford University hydrologist Kevin Wheeler said while the Bureau of Reclamation was “very focused on getting through this into next year”, any cuts could take longer.
“Obviously these cuts have to stay until the drought is over or we realize they actually have to get worse and the cuts have to go deeper,” he said.
The cuts are based on a plan signed by seven states as well as Mexico in 2019 to help maintain reservoir levels.
Under the plan, the amount of water allocated to states depends on the level of Lake Mead. Last year, the lake’s water levels dropped enough for the federal government to declare the region’s first water shortage, triggering mandatory water cuts in Arizona and Nevada, as well as Mexico, in 2022.
Officials expect the falling lake level will trigger additional cuts in Nevada, Arizona and Mexico next year. States with higher priority water rights are not expected to make cuts.
Reservoir levels have been falling for years, and faster than experts predicted, as a 22-year drought worsened by climate change and overuse of rivers.
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