Arizona will see its Colorado River water allocation reduced by 760,000 acre-feet annually over the next two years, under new operating guidelines the federal government finalizedand announced recently.
The U.S. Department of the Interior announced that the rules call for reduced water deliveries to Lower Basin states for the next two years.
Arizona's reduction is under the states' proposed sharing agreement.
California would reduce deliveries by 440,000 acre-feet. Nevada would reduce its share by 50,000 acre-feet.
The guidelines also call for the Lower Basin states to voluntarily conserve an additional 700,000 acre-feet over two years.
The changes come as the Colorado River system reaches historic lows.
“It’s think it's a very positive outcome," Tom Buschatzke, the director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, told KAWC. "It's not without obviously some substantial reductions but because we created a collaborative outcome with California and Nevada and we're sharing in the reductions, i do believe that's a really good outcome."
Buchatzke explained that Arizona is giving up more water than Nevada or California because when Congress approved the Central Arizona Project (or CAP) to bring Colorado River water to Phoenix and Tucson in 1964, Arizona officials agreed that CAP water would carry a junior priority status to California.
Buschatzke told KAWC the plan will create stability for the Colorado River system.
“We know with certainty how big the reductions will be in Arizona," he said. "We know who's going to take them and it won't be Yuma because (of agriculture) they're a higher priority than CAP."
Buschatzke said he is constantly speaking with stakeholders in every county in Arizona. It has to be an all hands effort to come up with ways to get more funding for water infrastructure and more water sources, he said. Yuma water leaders have been there every step of the way.
“Yuma agriculture was represented in these negotiations," Buschatzke said. "I'm the lead person for Arizona but I had a group of Arizona water users with me in the negotiations. Yuma was one of them."
So as Arizona water leaders, elected officials, ag leaders and tribal nations work together to get through the next two years, Buschatzke said he is hopeful for the future of water negotiations with the Upper Basin states.
“I am optimistic partly because the three states... have been evolving in sharing the reductions that we need to stabilize the river...," he said. "And Arizonans continue to step up."
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Stay tuned to KAWC for the latest on Colorado River negotiations.
