Feds release highly anticipated options for managing overstressed Colorado River in coming years
The Bureau of Reclamation has outlined five different management schemes for the river. Several include cutbacks in Colorado and across the basin in dry years.
Hugh Carey/The Colorado Sun
The federal government unveiled Wednesday the first glimpse of how the overstressed Colorado River could be managed for decades to come.
Bureau of Reclamation officials shared five different management options: Some would keep more water in Lake Powell and impose large cuts on water use in Arizona, California and Nevada. Three options incorporate upstream reservoirs, like Blue Mesa in Colorado, and would require water cuts across the basin, including Colorado, in dry years — ideas that Colorado has staunchly opposed.
The news is a big deal for the 40 million people who rely on the Colorado River across the West. The drafted options form the foundation for new water management rules, which will start in 2027 and operate for years to come during an unpredictable climate future.
“We’ve been laser-focused on the post-2026 guidelines,” Acting Deputy Secretary of the Interior Laura Daniel-Davis, said during a press conference Wednesday. “It’s really not easy. Building consensus never is.”
Read more from Shannon Mullane and Jerd Smith at ColoradoSun.com
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