H2Uh-Oh

About 1,000 residents in Rio Verde Foothills, AZ, have been without running water for more than three weeks, after the neighboring city of Scottsdale shut off their water supply.

And while it’s not the first water dispute in the region, it certainly won’t be the last. Because like the sink your dad said he’d fix himself instead of calling the plumber, the Southwest's broader water-sharing plan doesn't appear to be working too well at the moment.

Arizona is one of seven states that gets a large share of its water from the Colorado River. In 1922, the states banded together to create “The Law of the River,” which guaranteed 7.5 million acre-feet of water per year to both the Upper Basin (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) and the Lower Basin (Arizona, California, and Nevada). For context, an acre-foot of water is ~326,000 gallons.

☝️ There’s just one problem. The agreement was made when the River’s annual flow was about 18 million acre-feet – more than enough to cover the 7.5 mil for each Basin. But since 2000, the West has faced the worst megadrought in 1,200 years.

• Hotter temperatures and decreased rains have combined to lower the average annual flow for the River to 12.3 million acre-feet – or more than 2.5 million acre-feet short of what’s needed.
• Research indicates that flow could decrease an additional 30% by 2050, and 55% by 2100.

📸 Big picture: In June of last year, the Department of the Interior gave the seven states a two-month deadline to figure out how to cut their collective water use for 2023 by 15-30%... which kicked off a squabble reminiscent of siblings fighting over who has to sit in the middle seat on a family road trip.

After the states failed to reach an agreement in time, the federal government – aka the ‘rents – extended the deadline to January 31. And if that isn’t met, the feds may have to pull the car over and unilaterally determine how the cuts are made – meaning Mad Max may soon start to feel less like a post-apocalyptic thriller, and more like… reality TV.