Western states agree to Colorado River cuts

The seven states that rely on water from the Colorado River reached a breakthrough agreement yesterday. It’ll keep the water supply for some of America’s most productive farmland, as well as major cities like Phoenix and LA, from falling to critically low levels.

🌊 A deeper shallower dive… The Colorado River's “high quality H₂O,” to quote The Waterboy, was divided among seven Western states a century ago, in a pact giving half of the river's water to the Upper Basin states (CO, NM, UT, & WY) and half to the Lower Basin (AZ, CA, & NV).

But over the past two decades, its flow has steadily declined amidst an ongoing megadrought, which represents the area’s driest 22-year period in the past 1,200 years. The Colorado River and its reservoirs first hit record-low levels in late 2021, prompting states and the federal government to start discussing water cuts.

• As part of yesterday’s agreement, Arizona, California, and Nevada will reduce their water intake by a combined 3 million acre-feet by 2026, in exchange for a total of $1.2 billion in federal compensation to local farms, cities, and Native American tribes affected by the water cuts. (For reference, an acre-foot is enough water to last a typical family of four about one year.)
• Renegotiations to reach a longer-term deal for after 2026 are set to begin next month.

📸 Big picture: The Colorado River is the primary water source ​for ~40 million Americans between Denver and Los Angeles, fueling $1.4 trillion in annual economic activity and accounting for 16 million jobs across the basin states, per a 2015 study by Arizona State University.