LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Water officials said Tuesday a joint Arizona-Nevada proposal that identified 2 million acre-feet in water savings was rejected.
A statement from two top officials in Arizona appeared to be more evidence that neighboring states are frustrated with California and other states in finding solutions to the continuing water shortage in the Southwest. Details of the proposal were not released.
“Arizona and Nevada put forward an aggressive proposal that would achieve 2 (million acre-feet) of reductions among the Lower Basin and Mexico in 2023 and beyond. That proposal was rejected,” according to the statement on behalf of Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke and Central Arizona Project (CAP) General Manager Ted Cooke.
“It is unacceptable for Arizona to continue to carry a disproportionate burden of reductions for the benefit of others who have not contributed,” the statement said. Arizona has left 800,000 acre-feet in Lake Mead in the current water year. Since 2014, Arizona has left more than 2.5 million acre-feet, according to the statement. That amount is equal to approximately 37 feet of increased elevation in Lake Mead, officials said.
California’s Imperial Valley was singled out in Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Camlimlim Touton’s remarks Tuesday, when she said “a sustainable path forward for the Salton Sea” was one of the commitments she stood by. Agriculture in the Imperial Valley is estimated to bring in $4.5 billion each year.
Farming in Arizona is likely to bear the brunt of cuts announced Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which declared a second year of a federal water shortage as the drought in the Southwest U.S. enters its 23rd year.
“Discussions among the Basin States and the United States have only led to a framework relying entirely on short-term, voluntary contributions for 2023 that fall far short of the water volumes needed to protect the system,” officials said. “The Basin States have not yet produced a viable plan nor has the United States proposed a plan that achieves the protection volumes identified by the Commissioner.”
While Southern Nevada relies on the river for 90% of its water supply, Southern California’s water sources are more diverse. When parts of Southern California adopted strict water restrictions this spring, other areas of the state stood by, knowing they had plenty of water available from the Colorado River.
One water researcher told the Los Angeles Times the shortage should have been on people’s minds then.
“The real question is, why not just do it for the entire service area?” said Felicia Marcus, a researcher at Stanford University’s Water in the West Program and former chair of California’s state water board. “It may be most acute for these particular areas in this particular year, but I think increasingly we have to take a longer view than we’re used to.”
