Deadline passed, Arizona governor says Colorado River headwater states uncommitted to conservation

The remarks suggested that the upstream states — Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico — and the downstream states — Arizona, California and Nevada — have a ways to go before agreeing on how to manage the river. The dwindling supply of water now serves the needs of 40 million people, for everything from washing dishes to irrigating crops and running factories.

Colorado officials responded to Hobbs' remarks, which resembled others she's made about the negotiations recently, by saying they remained committed to the talks that have been ongoing for more than two years. A joint statement from the seven states, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Department of the Interior on Tuesday said they've made collective progress.

Earlier this year, the acting head of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Scott Cameron, told the seven states to agree to a framework for a river plan by Nov. 11. That deadline passed Tuesday with no announcement of a deal or even details about sticking points, heightening the chance the Interior Department will step in with its own plan before current rules and guidelines expire next year.

A key issue is that Upper Basin states don’t use their full share of water, yet are legally obligated to send a certain amount of water on average downstream to the Lower Basin. Meanwhile, the low levels of Lake Mead on the Arizona-Nevada border have triggered mandatory reductions in the supply to those two states.

In a letter Tuesday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Hobbs and Arizona legislative leaders criticized what they said was an “extreme” negotiating position by Upper Basin states regarding water conservation. Arizona has been a leader in conservation, the letter asserts.

Colorado Water Commissioner Becky Mitchell responded by saying the letter's “heightened rhetoric is not helpful at this time."

A statement by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who, like Hobbs, is a Democrat, said: “We remain committed to collaborating with our fellow basin states and moving forward to do what is best for Colorado River users, including protecting Colorado’s water resources.”

Hobbs plans to meet with Burgum next week. It's unclear when negotiators plan to meet again. Arizona Department of Water Resources spokesman Doug MacEachern said recent talks were happening about every other week.

At Wednesday's news conference in Yuma, Hobbs took particular aim at Colorado for leading the Upper Basin states in refusing to “put any water on the table to share in future water shortages.”

More involvement by President Donald Trump's administration seemed likely to John Berggren, regional policy manager with Western Resource Advocates, a Boulder, Colorado-based environmental group.

“The feds will move forward and we’ll continue to advocate for what we want to see in the new guidelines,” Berggren said. “Environmental values and environmental considerations.”

Much of the water originates as winter mountain snowfall in the Upper Basin, which collects far more that way than it consumes. Lower Basin states, including agriculture-rich regions like California’s Imperial Valley, are bigger consumers.

Along the way, major cities, including Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles, are also significant users of Colorado River water.

Who gets to use water — especially in dry spells — and who must conserve and let it flow downstream has been the focus of agreements among the states for decades. But the original 1922 Colorado River Compact was calculated based on an amount of water that doesn’t exist in today's climate of long-term drought.

California’s biggest Colorado River water-rights holder, the Imperial Irrigation District, said in a statement that it supported California's “collaborative approach” to a river plan and “voluntary, equitable, and durable solutions that uphold its senior water rights" while sustaining food production and the environment.

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Gruver reported from Fort Collins, Colorado. Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California, contributed.