LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The seven states that rely on the Colorado River for their water had until Tuesday to produce an agreement on future conservation efforts. Unfortunately, they missed that deadline.
More than 20 years of drought have taken a toll on the river. It’s estimated the Colorado loses more than a million acre-feet of water to evaporation each year.
Representatives from Arizona, Colorado, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming have spent the past two years trying to reach an agreement on cuts without success. Interim guidelines for water use expire at the end of the year, and the Bureau of Reclamation is keen to see some sort of practical agreement quickly.
“They need to continue to negotiate. They need continued discussion. The Department of the Interior, which ultimately set this deadline here of November 11th, recognizes the progress that the states have been making. And they’re affording the states some additional time to continue working on some of the details of an agreement,” said Bronson Mack of the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
If the states cannot reach an agreement on their own, the Bureau of Reclamation will step in and decide the allocations. It bears noting, Nevada gets the smallest share of Colorado River water — but it also employs the most robust conservation strategies.
“This really sets Nevada up and specifically Southern Nevada for being the most water secure community on the Colorado River system. And all of that is not only a testament to the leadership that we have within our state, but ultimately with what Southern Nevadans have done to reduce their water use,” Mack said. “They really need to be commended.”
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