While the cuts will not lead to immediate new restrictions – such as bans on watering lawns or washing cars – they signal that unpopular decisions about how to reduce consumption are on the horizon, including whether to prioritize growing cities or agricultural regions. Mexico will also face cuts. But these reductions represent only a fraction of the potential pain to come for the 40 million Americans in seven states that rely on the river. Because states failed to meet a federal deadline to figure out how to cut water use by at least 15 percent, they could see even deeper cuts that the government said are needed to prevent reservoirs from falling so low they can’t be pumped . “States collectively have not identified and adopted concrete actions of sufficient magnitude that would stabilize the system,” said Bureau of Recovery Commissioner Camille Touton. Together, the missed deadline and the latest cuts are putting city and farm water officials under renewed pressure to plan for a warmer, drier future and a growing population. Touton said a 15% to 30% reduction is necessary to ensure that water deliveries and hydropower generation are not interrupted. She was noncommittal Tuesday on whether she planned to impose those cuts unilaterally if states do not reach an agreement. He has repeatedly declined to say how much time the states have to reach the deal he requested in June. The inaction has raised concerns across the region about the bureau’s willingness to act as states cling stubbornly to their water rights while acknowledging a looming crisis. “They’ve called the bureau’s bluff time and time again,” said Kyle Roerink, the executive director of the Great Basin Water Network, for the Colorado River basin states. “Nothing has changed with today’s news – except that the Colorado River system continues to collapse.” Stephen Lewis, governor of the Gila River Indian Community in central Arizona, said the tribe was “shocked and disappointed” by the lack of progress. The tribe, which is entitled to nearly a quarter of Arizona’s Colorado River deliveries, no longer plans to store its unused water in Lake Mead, as it has done in recent years, and instead plans to store it underground. For years, cities and farms have diverted more water from the river than flows through it, depleting its reservoirs and raising questions about how it will be divided as water becomes scarcer. After more than two decades of drought, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico were hit with mandatory cuts for the first time last year. Some of the farmers in the area have been paid to leave their fields fallow. Residents of growing cities have been subjected to conservation measures such as grass borders. But these efforts so far have not been enough. The water level in Lake Mead, the nation’s largest man-made reservoir, has dropped so low that it is currently less than a quarter full and dangerously close to a point where not enough water would flow to generate hydroelectric power at Hoover Dam on the Nevada-Arizona Border. Officials in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming have been reluctant to propose more draconian water restrictions or growth restrictions. The trade-offs are most pronounced in Arizona, which is one of the nation’s fastest-growing states and has lower priority rights than water users to the west in California. Under Tuesday’s reductions, Arizona will lose an additional 80,000 acre feet of water — 21 percent less than its total share but only 3 percent less than it’s receiving this year. An acre-foot equals one acre of land covered by 12 inches of water. An average household uses one-half to one acre-foot of water per year. After placing last year’s burden on the agricultural industry, state officials said this year’s cuts would extend to tribes and growing cities based in Colorado, including Scottsdale. Instead of rationing water to sustain or limit growth, cities will likely shift their reliance to other sources. Phoenix, for example, will rely more on the in-state Salt and Verde rivers, while directing less of its supply to recharge its underground aquifers. Arizona officials have criticized neighboring states for not proposing cuts even as Arizona implements its own. Arizona and Nevada reached a plan for cuts that would be roughly proportional to water use, but both California and the Bureau of Reclamation rejected that deal, state officials said. “We need California to participate. we can’t go it alone with Arizona and Nevada,” said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. The effect of the cuts on farmers remains unclear, but many fear more cuts will further fuel tensions between cities and agriculture, which uses more than 70 percent of the basin’s water. Paco Ollerton, a cotton farmer in the Phoenix area, worries that the deeper cuts could jeopardize his water next year. Arizona farmers already lost much of their Colorado River water during previous cuts, but were compensated with water through agreements with cities like Phoenix and Tucson. This year, Ollerton grew only half of what it had grown in the past. The cuts announced Tuesday could put further pressure on those cities, raising questions about whether they will share with farmers next year. “It changes the way I think about how much longer I’m going to keep farming,” Ollerton said. Nevada will also lose water — about 8 percent of its supply — but most residents won’t feel the effects because the state recycles most of its indoor water and doesn’t use its full allocation. Last year the state lost 7%. Hot temperatures and less spring snowmelt have reduced the amount of water flowing from the Rocky Mountains, where the river originates before snaking 1,450 miles (2,334 kilometers) southwest and into the Gulf of California. In the midst of a changing climate, extraordinary measures have already been taken to conserve water in Lake Powell, the Colorado River’s other large reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Utah border. After the lake dropped low enough to threaten hydroelectric power generation, federal officials said they would hold back some water to ensure the dam could still generate power. This water would normally flow into Lake Mead. Mexico will lose 7% of the water it receives each year from the river. Last year it lost about 5%. Water is a lifeline for northern desert cities, including Tijuana, and a major agricultural industry in the Mexicali Valley, just south of the border from California’s Imperial Valley. Historically, Mexico has been sidelined in discussions about how to share the river, but in recent years, the countries’ efforts have been important to keep more water in the system, experts say. “People have realized that this is a really important relationship that needs to be preserved,” said Jennifer Pitt, who directs the Colorado River program at the Audubon Society.
Naishadham reported from Washington. Ronayne reported from Sacramento, California.
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