LEILA FADEL, HOST:
There's a new proposal to share water from the Colorado River. The river supplies nearly 40 million people from Wyoming to San Diego, and its reservoirs are approaching dangerously low levels. Three states are unveiling this plan after more than two decades of mega drought and more than a year of deadlocked negotiations about the river's future. Alex Hager covers water for member station KJZZ in Phoenix and joins us now. Alex, good morning.
ALEX HAGER, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: So how exactly do these states plan to turn around this crisis? And why are they doing it now?
HAGER: Well, Arizona, California and Nevada, they are offering to cut back on the amount of water they take from the river. Water levels at the country's two biggest reservoirs, that's Lake Mead and Lake Powell, they have been close to record lows. Lake Powell is less than a quarter full right now and on track to drop even further after a historically dry winter. Seven states have been in talks about a long-term fix for that problem, but they just couldn't agree through months and months of negotiating.
And now we're seeing a new proposal from just three of them. I talked about it with J.B. Hamby. He's the top water negotiator for California and helped craft this agreement.
JB HAMBY: This is especially needed right now with how bad this winter has been and the uncertainty of where the system is going to be, moving forward.
HAGER: The current rules for managing the river expire later this year, and states are under pressure to agree on some kind of replacement before then to prevent a big legal battle.
FADEL: Water from the Colorado River flows to big cities, like Phoenix and Los Angeles, but also to the huge agriculture industry in the Southwest. So when the states say they're going to take less water, who in those states will be affected?
HAGER: It's not exactly clear how the states would reduce water use. You know, in the past, we have seen them pull off similar cutbacks by paying farmers to pause irrigating crops. You know, big cities can sometimes lean harder on water sources that are not the Colorado River, like groundwater or a different nearby river. Changes like that are easier to tolerate right now because this plan is only designed to last a couple years.
Its designers are calling the proposal a bridge. The states that use the Colorado River need to make big, long-lasting reductions to the amount they use going forward.
FADEL: What comes next for the Colorado River and this agreement, then?
HAGER: So this plan is not official yet. The federal government would have to sign off before it goes into action. And the other states that use the river, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico, they take issue with some of the details. Chuck Cullum is with the Upper Colorado River Commission. That's a group that brings together negotiators from those four states.
CHUCK CULLUM: The analysis thus far suggests that the Lower Basin proposal for the operation of Lake Powell is insufficient and continues a crisis cycle, both for Lake Powell and for Lake Mead.
HAGER: However, this plan might be able to keep the river flowing normally enough for long enough to keep the states from launching big lawsuits while negotiations continue.
FADEL: Now, these states have been working at a - on a long-term plan for a long time now. What are they trying to change?
HAGER: Climate change and drought means there's less snow in the mountains where the river starts, and there's way less water for everyone downstream. But demand has not gone down to match that. The simple fact is that people and industries in those states will need to use less, and the states need to make big sacrifices and decide who exactly will feel the pain of long-term cuts.
After a deadlock in the negotiations about how to do that, there is one thing that might bring states a little closer. There are talks about bringing in a mediator who could help state leaders come up with a long-term plan.
FADEL: That's Alex Hager with member station KJZZ in Phoenix. Alex, thank you.
HAGER: Thanks so much.
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