Colorado River Water Access Calls for this Sensible Solution | Opinion
The old ways of managing the shrinking Colorado River aren't helping Arizona. But there is a way all of the compact states could find a new way to work together for everyone's benefit.
A ring marks the receded shoreline at Lake Powell, a Colorado River reservoir on the Utah-Arizona border that is now 24% full. A record-low snowpack across the Colorado River Basin is heightening concerns as drought conditions in the Southwest worsen.
Ian James / LA Times
Lake Powell is set to reach record low levels this summer. Concern for reduced power generation potential and water infrastructure failure is growing. To address this crisis, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation recently proposed an emergency plan to release less water from Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the two major reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin that the bureau operates. And the Upper Basin states just proposed to bring a mediator into current state level negotiations. These proposals show just how badly broken the current system of water governance is.
The bureau’s proposal and the call for a mediator come just after projections showed that Lake Powell would drop below hydropower generation this summer. The basin is facing its most severe conditions in two decades and states have failed to agree on new operating guidelines to govern the shortage cooperatively.
While it is tempting to blame today’s crisis on changing hydrology and poor snowpack, the deeper problem is governance: closed decision-making venues, processes that ignore key stakeholders and outdated rules that ignore the river's actual capacity.
How would a change in governance help Colorado River access?
Locked into a flawed governance structure, states are struggling to protect their current entitlements. Worse yet, no one at the negotiating table expects the federal plan to provide workable solutions, including the secretary of the interior himself. While a mediator may be a first step to getting the states to find some common ground, it won’t solve the fundamental governance problem. What we need is a transformative change in governance.
The 1922 Compact that governs the river overestimated its capacity and excluded the basin’s 30 tribal nations, failing its promise of “equitable division.” Since 2007, states have produced temporary agreements to manage shortages and share cuts with tribal nations and Mexico. Bipartisan Congressional funding has also improved water efficiency and cities like Tucson and Phoenix have successfully implemented conservation measures.Despite these adaptations, more water is promised than the river delivers.
We need a governance system that can not only adapt, but transform our current approach, starting with a well-designed venue for equitable, transparent and informed decision-making. An independent Colorado River basin commission could provide the necessary structure to support these goals.
How would a new water commission work?
Established and funded by Congress, such a commission could include technical experts, federal representation and appointed water management experts from the states, tribes, and Mexico, thus broadening participation. Similar to other commissions, it could also establish rules for engagement and conflict resolution.
A commission structure would offer decision-makers the chance to devise new allocation rules that reflect hydrological reality. New guidelines could establish rights based on the lowest level of reliable projected supply – or “firm yield” – while recognizing the uncertainty and need for adaptability to a changing climate. This would result in a fundamental shift in water allocation from the current approach, which sets fixed quantities of water for delivery to U.S. states and Mexico that exceed available supplies.