Colorado River: US states fail to reach deal on cutting water use

bbc.com

2 points·ethbr0··3 comments

So six of the seven states agreed to a plan to cut 2 million acre-feet of annual water usage. But in their plan, more than 1 million acre-feet of the cut came from California. California is the one state that failed to agree to the plan.

One important things missing from the article: What fraction of the water does California use? From the Wikipedia article on the Colorado River Compact, it looks like they use 30%. That makes it rather reasonable that they would not agree to have to make half of the cuts.

But that math may be off, because the article says "seven states" were in the negotiation, and the Wikipedia article lists eight states in the compact. I wish the article had been a bit more explicit on which states, and how much they use. Anyone with real data, feel free to chime in...

There are seven US states in the compact; and the river also runs between two Mexican states.

The difference between the six state “consensus” and the Californians’ argument is whether evaporation is subtracted from total allotment. That difference is 1.5 m acre-feet.

California has senior rights, and the priority in the Compact is formulated for water rights. If California broke the compact, they have to take a chance at litigating.

Ah, you are correct. The Wikipedia article lists Arizona twice, as both an upper basin and a lower basin state, because it pulls water from both above and below Lake Mead dam.

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