Latest news with #LowerBasin
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As time grows short for a Colorado River deal, Trump is set to fill vacant water post
The Trump administration is preparing to announce its pick to head the Bureau of Reclamation, a crucial position in deciding the future of the Colorado River, a White House spokesperson told the Arizona Republic. The move would effectively complete the new federal team overseeing strained negotiations over one of Arizona's largest water sources. The new commissioner will take charge amid tense negotiations among the seven states that use the Colorado River, which has strained under multi-decadal drought and high water demand. Southwestern states are working on an agreement to manage the river after the current guidelines expire in 2026. Without a proposal from the states, the new administration must impose a solution and risk drawing the river into a stream of lawsuits and conflict. Experts worry that this year's poor river flows could trigger lawsuits over foundational river-management laws as soon as 2027. States only have months to reach a deal, and negotiators have not shown signs of progress. 'It's been more than a little frustrating,' Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said during a news conference on May 13. Tom Buschatzke, director of the state Department of Water Resources and Arizona's Colorado River negotiator, has said the Trump administration is already more 'engaged in a much more meaningful way' on the Colorado River than former President Joe Biden's team and has responded to some of Arizona's long-unanswered requests in the negotiating process. Trump officials could give Arizona and the other Lower Basin states of California and Nevada a new opportunity to convince federal regulators that those states should not have to take all the cuts on the river. Biden negotiators would not call for cuts in the Upper Basin, while Buschatzke said the new administration may be more open to finding a 'collaborative' solution. Even so, Upper Basin states — Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico — have continued arguing that they cannot be forced to cut their water use if climate change and drought are the causes of low flows in the river, meaning any attempts to cut their use could lead to a lawsuit. A case could drag on for years, while water levels in the reservoirs continue to drop. "We have a non-depletion obligation, not a delivery obligation," Colorado Water Conservation Board official Amy Ostdiek said at a 2024 conference. "If we were in a territory close to dropping below a certain amount over a 10-year period, it would initiate an inquiry into what made that happen." By contrast, the Lower Basin believes the Upper Basin must send a certain amount of water down the river no matter what. "The Lower Basin states believe the Upper Basin owes the Lower Basin ... roughly 83 million acre feet over a 10-year average," Buschatzke said at the May 13 briefing. "That obligation occurs regardless of how much water they use or don't use in the Upper Basin." Changing conditions: As the Colorado River is stretched thin by drought, can the 100-year-old rules that divide it still work? The White House expects to announce its nominee for Reclamation Commissioner in a matter of weeks, according to the spokesperson. The nominee will go through what could be a months-long process to be confirmed by the Senate before taking office. A confirmed commissioner will fill out the three-person federal team that governs Colorado River management along with the states. President Donald Trump chose North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as his Interior Secretary and nominated former North Dakota Department of Water Resources Director Andrea Travnicek as Assistant Interior Secretary for Water and Science. Travnicek has completed the first step in her Senate confirmation process, clearing the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on April 30. She said the Colorado River will be among her highest priorities in office. The previous commissioner, Camille Calimlim Touton, left her position in January, along with other Biden appointees. Since then, Deputy Commissioner David Palumbo has served as acting commissioner, a typical arrangement during a transition between administrations. Scott Cameron has served as acting assistant secretary for water and science. Trump's reclamation commissioner could be the only person on his appointed Colorado River team who comes from the river basin itself. So far, two of the three major federal officials who most affect the Colorado River — Burgum and Travnicek — are from outside the basin. Anne Castle, who served as assistant secretary for water and science under President Barack Obama, said in an interview that the four previous commissioners have all come from Colorado River states. 'There has been significant experience and interest from the last several reclamation commissioners in the Colorado River basin,' Castle said. Measuring water: How much water flows down the Colorado River? The right answer is more important than ever Buschatzke said during the May 13 briefing in Phoenix that Trump's existing team has been more responsive to Arizona's concerns on the Colorado River. Specifically, Buschatzke said the bureau is helping model the potential consequences to the Upper Basin states if they don't come forward to make a deal and are seen as failing to meet obligations under the 1922 Colorado River Compact. Arizona has repeatedly asked Reclamation to take that step in the past, a request that went unheeded until the arrival of the new administration. 'The federal government is helping us look at options that would show risk not only to the Lower Basin, but also to the Upper Basin, something we've really asked the government to do … when both sides feel risk, I think that creates the collaboration we need to move forward,' Buschatzke said. Still, those moves don't necessarily indicate progress toward a seven-state proposal for river management, which is necessary to avoid a federally imposed solution and possible years-long court battles. While Trump officials have been more responsive to some requests, Buschatzke said the administration has not yet heeded Lower Basin states' desires to change the federal government's list of options for managing the river after 2026. Arizona officials are not happy with the options the federal government put forward, which did not include the proposal Arizona submitted with California and Nevada (it also did not include the proposal from the Upper Basin states). 'We sent a letter saying we don't like that report … we want you to rescind that report," Buschatzke said. "That has not happened.' To avoid one of the federal government's unappealing options for the river, the basin states need to set aside their differences and agree to their own proposal this summer, at the latest. Some officials have said that the agreement needed to materialize by May. 'If there's no collaborative outcome, I believe the federal government will move forward with whatever alternative they want to analyze, and we probably won't like what they analyze,' Buschatzke said. Buschatzke said the administration has been more willing to 'tweak' the alternatives proposed for federal action and talk with states collectively about a collaborative alternative. States had hoped to agree on a shared proposal for managing the river before the change in the White House in January, but disagreements over who should take cuts in their water use during dry years dragged negotiations out. State negotiators have declined to speak together at a water conference in Boulder, Colo., in June, which some water experts see as a possible indication that talks are not going well. The fact that the Upper Basin is engaging in talks at all is a 'sign of progress,' Buschatzke said, but he would not comment on the chances of a seven-state agreement. Meanwhile, projections of worse-than-average river flows this year are only getting worse. Scientists project that the Colorado River will only produce about half of its normal summer flow in 2025, according to a May 1 outlook from the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center. Low water levels in large reservoirs could send Arizona into a new level of water cuts in 2027, even deeper than the cuts it has already taken, according to an April projection from the Bureau of Reclamation. Official projections from Reclamation also show that flows from the Upper Basin could drop below the annual average amount required to satisfy allocations to the Lower Basin and Mexico as soon as 2027, depending on changes in dam operations. Water experts see that event as a possible tripwire for litigation. The two basins disagree on the mechanics of how the 1922 Colorado River Compact divides river water, and any attempt to enforce one interpretation could lead to a lengthy lawsuit that reduces vast technical and diplomatic questions to the decision of a court. Arizona has already started arming itself for a legal struggle. Governor Katie Hobbs called for $3 million in her January budget proposal to use on Colorado River litigation. The governor reaffirmed her support for the idea at a visit to the Central Arizona Project on May 13. 'We need a signal that we're prepared to defend our water," Hobbs said, "and I think that's a strong one.' Want more water news like this? Sign up for AZ Climate, The Republic's weekly environment and climate newsletter. Arizona will likely take the largest cuts of any state, regardless of which alternative Reclamation or the states choose. All the options put forward by federal officials call for cuts exclusively from Lower Basin states. Some irrigation districts in Pinal County have already left half their acreage fallow because of Colorado River cuts, and some Arizona leaders wonder how much more there is to cut before they hit essential municipal services and national security-related industries. Central Arizona Project Board President Terry Goddard said any new cuts in Arizona's water cannot come from CAP users. The CAP, a canal system that transports Colorado River water 336 miles to supply 6 million people in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, has some of the lowest priority water rights on the Colorado River in Arizona, meaning it has taken the bulk of recent water cuts. Meanwhile, tribes and farmers in the Mohave Valley and Yuma areas have continued irrigating with their high-priority water rights or have been compensated for saving water. Goddard said it's time to set up a conversation about ways for those farmers to take on more of the burden of water shortages, because central Arizona can't cut much more. 'Not every gallon is equal, the productive use or money you can make from a gallon of water depends where it's being used, and I think we have to be able to sit down with (Yuma-area farmers) … and say, in times of emergency, we have to have a way to keep industry and tribes from going dry, and I don't think that's an unreasonable requirement,' Goddard said. A representative from Yuma-area farms was not present at the May 13 news conference to offer a response. Buschatzke said Arizona residents shouldn't expect their taps to run dry anytime soon, but they might have to change their outdoor watering practices. He said Arizonans might also take hits to their environmental areas, like riparian zones, and water restrictions could spell trouble for some economic sectors. Goddard said average Arizona water users should feel protected from water shortages in the short term, but know that there is not yet a long-term solution. 'We've cut the fat, we've cut the muscle," he said. "Now we're talking about cutting bone.' Austin Corona covers environmental issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to Environmental coverage on and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic environmental reporting team at and @azcenvironment on Facebook and Instagram This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump administration soon to name Reclamation Commissioner nominee
Yahoo
09-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump administration's funding, staff cuts spark concerns over Colorado River
Federal funding freezes and staffing cuts are setting off alarms about the future of the Colorado River, a critical artery that supplies water to some 40 million people in 30 tribes and seven states across the U.S. West, as well as in Mexico. The Trump administration's efforts to slash the federal budget and workforce coincide with a pivotal point in Colorado River history, as the region's states negotiate the long-term operational guidelines for the 1,450-mile artery. The current interim rules, set in 2007, will expire at the end of 2026. Policymakers warn that a loss of funds and Bureau of Reclamation employees could disrupt programs important for sustaining the drought-strained river — and complicate the negotiations that will steer its course for years to come. 'The level of uncertainty is greater than it's ever been, and the challenges are greater than they've ever been,' Tom Buschatzke, Arizona's lead Colorado River negotiator, told The Hill. The Trump administration's day-one pause on certain disbursements from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which earmarked $4 billion for water management in the region, is raising particular concern among stakeholders about the fate of key conservation projects that keep the Colorado River flowing. Earlier this week, Senate Democrats from the region's Lower Basin states — California, Nevada and Arizona — urged the Department of the Interior to end the freeze, arguing that the disappearance of these funds could endanger the river's water supply. They expressed particular concern over the future of a conservation program aimed at increasing basin-wide efficiency and 'the Colorado River system's reservoirs from reaching dangerously low levels that threaten water deliveries and power production.' Two of the same senators, California's Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, then sent another letter on Thursday to the Interior Department, demanding a halt to further workforce cuts to the Bureau of Reclamation — the federal agency that is party to Colorado River operations and negotiations. They noted that Reclamation is already slated to lose about 100 California employees, or around 10 percent of regional personnel. Emphasizing the constant monitoring required to maintain dams and reservoirs, the lawmakers warned that 'without adequate staffing, the risk of infrastructure failures increases.' Meanwhile, the negotiations over the river's long-term operations are ongoing. The final structure of the guidelines remains unclear, with the Lower Basin states and their Upper Basin peers — Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah — at odds over the details. The Biden administration tried to hasten the process by issuing a bullet-point list of five options in late November and a longer version in mid-January, while state-level talks have continued in parallel. In their initial appeal to the Interior Department, the Senate Democrats stressed the critical role their conservation program has played in shaping past agreements among vying states. Under such an arrangement last year, they explained, the Lower Basin states pledged to conserve 3 million acre-feet of water, with the goal of stabilizing the system until post-2026 guidelines materialized. For reference, a century-old allocated 7.5 million acre-feet to each basin on an annual basis. The average American household, meanwhile, consumes about 1 acre-foot of water every year. A cessation in funding, the lawmakers warned, could jeopardize conservation targets, local economies and ecosystems, while also 'undermining future multistate agreements.' Their message followed a similar appeal sent to President Trump by Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), who described current conditions as an 'absolute breaking point.' The short-term reductions in water usage — the 3 million acre-feet arranged in last year's consensus — are not only large in volume, but they also have significant economic and political impacts, according to Buschatzke, the Arizona negotiator. Previously, he explained, cuts were typically limited to big consumers like the Central Arizona Project, the massive system that brings water to more populous areas across the state. But if extremely dry conditions were to strike the region, the burden would spread to other Arizonans. Such curtailments could 'cut into even higher-priority users, like my young farmers,' said Buschatzke, who is also the director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. 'That's the same thing in other states,' he warned. 'The risk is greater.' If such drastic effects do come to fruition — and without the compensation that the frozen funds could have provided — future collaboration could become more difficult, according to Buschatzke. Short-term losses, he added, could also have long-term effects by 'eroding confidence that creative tools like the conservation programs can actually be put into implementation moving forward.' Of specific concern to Buschatzke was the financial viability of a concept proposed in the post-2026 alternatives, which involves creating 'pools' for water savings within the basin's two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Just how much money would be necessary to create these pools, he explained, remains unclear amid 'a lot of moving parts.' Responding earlier this week to a query from The Hill about the funding freeze, an Interior Department spokesperson, declined to comment, only noting that that agency's 'policy is to not correspond with members of Congress through the media.' Amid sporadic cuts and cancellations, the Trump administration's approach to the Colorado River remains elusive. The Bureau of Reclamation last month announced that 'a decision was made to reschedule' a meeting of the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Work Group, the body responsible for overseeing downstream flows from the Lake Powell reservoir. Meanwhile, Anne Castle, a Biden-era appointee to the Upper Colorado River Commission, departed at the behest of the Trump administration a week after inauguration. In her resignation letter, Castle described an 'existential time,' in which stakeholders 'who rely on and care about the river' are working on guidelines 'that will govern our lives and our economies for decades.' Castle also commended Interior Department public servants for their dedication and professionalism 'despite being vilified by the very administration they serve,' while blasting shifts in employment terms as 'explicitly designed to result in a wave of resignations.' 'This broad brush, unfocused purge in furtherance of the stated goal of liberating large corporations from regulation they do not care for will result in attrition of expertise, damage to the American public, and specifically, a more disordered and chaotic Colorado River system,' she added. Jay Lund, director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis, told The Hill that he sees the federal government as playing an important role in Western water in general. In the Colorado River basin, he explained, this means providing money, setting environmental regulations, and administering projects and interstate agreements. At the same time, however, Lund stressed that 'almost all decisions in this basin are at local and regional levels, plus state water rights and some tribal rights.' As far as President Trump's rationale behind the $4 billion pause is concerned, Lund reasoned that 'this could fit as part of his widespread freezes on funding, some or many of which will likely be reversed or altered over time as they see fit.' Alternatively, he suggested that Trump could be 'collecting points of leverage on parties in the basin for later negotiations.' 'Money not yet spent is always a potentially useful lever. But it is unclear what he really wants,' Lund said. Buschatzke, meanwhile, offered some optimism in that most of the federal employees involved in the Colorado River's post-2026 environmental review process were 'still in their jobs.' 'In the broader scheme of things, there are many Reclamation people that we rely on,' he said, referring to experts such as 'modeling gurus' and administrative contractors. 'All those people fit together in a way that enables us to get our collective work done,' Buschatzke added. 'How much of that is going to be impacted, I don't think anyone can tell you, and I certainly can't.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate Democrats urge Trump administration to end Colorado River funding freeze
Senate Democrats from the U.S. West on Monday urged the Department of the Interior to end a funding freeze that could endanger the flow of the Colorado River. The lawmakers, from California, Nevada and Arizona, slammed the Trump administration's day-one executive order that halted disbursements from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act — including $4 billion that Congress had earmarked for water management and conservation in the West. Among the projects that were supposed to benefit from those funds was the Lower Colorado River System Conservation and Efficiency Program, which had aimed to raise the elevation of Lake Mead — the basin's largest reservoir — by 9 feet this year, the senators wrote in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The program, the senators explained, has been vital 'in increasing water conservation, improving efficiency, and preventing the Colorado River system's reservoirs from reaching dangerously low levels that threaten water deliveries and power production.' The pause in funding has occurred in a pivotal moment for Colorado River region states, as negotiations occur over long-term operational and conservation guidelines for the 1,450-mile artery, which serves about 40 million people in the U.S. and Mexico. The current interim rules, set in 2007, will expire at the end of 2026. Just how the future guidelines will take shape remains uncertain, as the Lower Basin states and their Upper Basin peers — Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah — have struggled to come to a consensus. With the two contingents still at odds in late November, the Biden administration tried to expedite the process — releasing a bullet-point list of five possible alternatives, followed by a more detailed version just days before President Trump's inauguration. In their appeal to Burgum, the Senate Democrats — Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (Calif.), Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (Nev.) and Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) — stressed how critical their conservation program has been to shaping past agreements among vying states. Under such an arrangement last year, they explained, the Lower Basin States committed to conserving 3 million acre-feet of water, with the goal of tiding the system over until post-2026 guidelines materialize. 'With funding now on hold, these conservation targets are at risk, threatening the progress made and undermining future multistate agreements,' the lawmakers warned. The letter from the senators follows other such requests, such as an appeal last week from Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), who wrote directly to Trump regarding the Colorado River cuts. Withholding the funding, Stanton argued, both jeopardizes basin-wide conservation and complicates negotiation efforts among the states. Stanton described the status quo as an 'absolute breaking point,' while slamming the funding freeze as 'short-sighted.' For their part, the senators characterized the need for water in the Colorado River basin as 'more urgent than ever,' warning that this year's weather forecast projects a below-average supply. 'Without continued support from Interior, efforts to conserve water and sustain the communities, economies, and ecosystems that rely on the Colorado River are in serious jeopardy,' the senators added. In response to a query about the letter from The Hill, J. Elizabeth Peace, an Interior Department spokesperson, declined to comment, only noting, 'Our policy is to not correspond with members of Congress through the media.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
03-03-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Senate Democrats urge Trump administration to end Colorado River funding freeze
Senate Democrats from the U.S. West on Monday urged the Department of the Interior to end a funding freeze that could endanger the flow of the Colorado River. The lawmakers, from California, Nevada and Arizona, slammed the Trump administration's day-one executive order that halted disbursements from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act — including $4 billion that Congress had earmarked for water management and conservation in the West. Among the projects that were supposed to benefit from those funds was the Lower Colorado River System Conservation and Efficiency Program, which had aimed to raise the elevation of Lake Mead — the basin's largest reservoir — by 9 feet this year, the senators wrote in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. The program, the senators explained, has been vital 'in increasing water conservation, improving efficiency, and preventing the Colorado River system's reservoirs from reaching dangerously low levels that threaten water deliveries and power production.' The pause in funding has occurred in a pivotal moment for Colorado River region states, as negotiations occur over long-term operational and conservation guidelines for the 1,450-mile artery, which serves about 40 million people in the U.S. and Mexico. The current interim rules, set in 2007, will expire at the end of 2026. Just how the future guidelines will take shape remains uncertain, as the Lower Basin states and their Upper Basin peers — Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah — have struggled to come to a consensus. With the two contingents still at odds in late November, the Biden administration tried to expedite the process — releasing a bullet-point list of five possible alternatives, followed by a more detailed version just days before President Trump's inauguration. In their appeal to Burgum, the Senate Democrats — Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (Calif.), Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen (Nev.) and Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) — stressed how critical their conservation program has been to shaping past agreements among vying states. Under such an arrangement last year, they explained, the Lower Basin States committed to conserving 3 million acre-feet of water, with the goal of tiding the system over until post-2026 guidelines materialize. 'With funding now on hold, these conservation targets are at risk, threatening the progress made and undermining future multistate agreements,' the lawmakers warned. The letter from the senators follows other such requests, such as an appeal last week from Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.), who wrote directly to Trump regarding the Colorado River cuts. Withholding the funding, Stanton argued, both jeopardizes basin-wide conservation and complicates negotiation efforts among the states. Stanton described the status quo as an 'absolute breaking point,' while slamming the funding freeze as 'short-sighted.' For their part, the senators characterized the need for water in the Colorado River basin as 'more urgent than ever,' warning that this year's weather forecast projects a below-average supply. 'Without continued support from Interior, efforts to conserve water and sustain the communities, economies, and ecosystems that rely on the Colorado River are in serious jeopardy,' the senators added. In response to a query about the letter from The Hill, J. Elizabeth Peace, an Interior Department spokesperson, declined to comment, only noting, 'Our policy is to not correspond with members of Congress through the media.'
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Colorado River negotiators express urgency, uncertainty as deadline nears
Lead negotiators from the Colorado River's Upper Basin states expressed a dual sense of uncertainty and urgency on Tuesday, as a deadline to determine the fate of the entire system looms near. 'If you are in the Upper Basin states or probably anywhere across the West, you know it's not looking so good right now,' said Becky Mitchell, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Mitchell was addressing a meeting of the Upper Colorado River Commission, which also included federal Bureau of Reclamation representatives and the lead negotiators for the other Upper Basin states: Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico. The commissioners convened to discuss basin-wide hydrology and share updates on longer-term Colorado River negotiations, which have been occurring for more than a year with Lower Basin counterparts: Arizona, Nevada and California. The talks concern a long-anticipated update of the Colorado River's operational guidelines, which are set to expire at the end of 2026. These 2007 interim rules govern conservation policies for the 1,450-mile river, which provides water to about 40 million people in the U.S. and Mexico. With the Upper and Lower basins still far from reaching any collaborative arrangement, the Biden administration in late November tried to propel the process forward — releasing a bullet-point list of five potential alternatives for the watershed's long-term management. Just days before President Trump's inauguration, former President Biden's team released a detailed version of the alternatives, placing the Bureau of Reclamation on a path to issue a draft environmental impact statement — a key step in the federal environmental process — by this summer. Chuck Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission, confirmed at the Tuesday meeting that this initial framework would need to be in place 'by early summer of 2025' in order to trigger the development of state-level implementation plans. 'Those are the types of agreements between states, and the basin states as a whole, that would be part of the foundation for whatever those post-2026 operations might be,' Cullom said, noting that some of those plans might require the passage of legislation. The Bureau of Reclamation had initially given the states an early March 2024 deadline to submit a consensus-backed alternative for updated guidelines for the river's management. But two days after that deadline, the basins ended up publishing competing proposals. The Lower Basin states presented a proposal that incorporated reductions for themselves but also called for cuts across the entire watershed — calculating storage capacity not just on the massive Lake Powell and Lake Mead, but also on five smaller reservoirs, including three in the Upper Basin. The Upper Basin states, meanwhile, issued plans that they said would consider real-time hydrological conditions in an area dependent on mountain snowpack for its water supply. Having received no unified vision among all seven states, Biden's Bureau of Reclamation proposed a range of management solutions, none of which precisely match either basin's proposal. Most of the federal alternatives presented, however, require some level of consensus agreement, Cullom noted at the Tuesday meeting. 'A consensus is the best option out there for everyone, and I'm hopeful that we'll get there,' Mitchell said. 'That is the highest level of certainty that we will have as seven basin states.' Mitchell stressed the importance of the states determining their own future, adding that all parties must 'acknowledge that cuts are probable, possible and likely.' 'We need to do that for certainty, and everyone needs to do that,' she said. 'We are committed to work with the Lower Basin states toward that seven-state consensus.' Her Upper Basin colleagues offered similar perspectives, with Estevan Lopez of New Mexico and Brandon Gebhart of Wyoming both expressing their commitment to such collaboration. 'We are meeting with all of the states,' added Gene Shawcroft, Utah's commissioner. 'Discussions have been frank and fruitful.' Shawcroft expressed optimism 'that there is a box that we can work within that will allow us to come to a seven-state consensus, 'But certainly, there's a lot of work yet to do,' he added. As for the Colorado River's hydrological conditions, Alex Pivarnik of the Bureau of Reclamation told the commissioners that Lake Powell — the main reservoir for the Upper Basin — is only 35 percent full, while Upper Colorado River system storage is sitting at 43 percent capacity and total system storage in both basins is at 42 percent. 'January was a really bad month for us in the basin,' Pivarnik said, noting that conditions were 'pretty much dry' across all the states. Pivarnik described the initial weeks of February as 'kind of a make or break for us,' recognizing that precipitation has since increased substantially. Mitchell echoed these sentiments, acknowledging that water officials have 'been slightly optimistic because of the snow.' 'But it still does not look as good as we'd like,' she said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
