PHOENIX — For years, Scripps has been tracking the ongoing negotiations among Colorado River Basin states as they work toward new long-term water management guidelines set to take effect in 2026.
Deep divisions persist over how to share this critical resource that 40 million Americans depend on.
Arizona's top water official, Tom Buschatzke, highlighted those challenges in a meeting with state leaders earlier this week.
"This is a visceral issue between the states. It is a giant chasm, and it is a bottom line for all three of us: Colorado, Arizona, Nevada."
Buschatzke is referring to the proposals submitted this past March by the Lower Basin states — Nevada, California, Arizona — and the Upper Basin states — Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah — along with other groups. These proposals could change the amount of water each state is allotted in a given year.
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According to the University of Arizona, 90% of the river originates as snow in the Rocky Mountains, but the amount of snowpack in recent decades has been dwindling due to climate change. The Upper Basin, therefore, wants to send less water downstream because of this.
The Lower Basin, however, wants all the states that depend on the water to contribute to reductions when water levels drop to a certain threshold.
Each proposal is different — too different, Buschatzke claimed.
“We know that the Upper Basin, to date, has been unwilling to consider sharing and necessary reductions. They have not put one gallon of reduction on the table with us, and it’s just not enough to cut a deal.”
If a compromise can’t be met, the Arizona Department of Water Resources is considering legal action, requesting $1 million in its budget for possible litigation.
“I do not want litigation,” Buschatzke stated. “It’s not good for anybody, but if we get backed into a corner and that’s our only choice, that was the context of that budget request.”
Becky Mitchell, Colorado’s water negotiator and representative for the Upper Basin states, calls the state’s possible legal challenge “disappointing” in a statement to ABC15.
“It is disappointing that Arizona is considering destabilizing litigation in the Colorado River Basin. It appears to be in an effort to avoid reducing their uses in sufficient amounts to stabilize the system in a drier future. The Upper Division states have fully complied with the Colorado River Compact, and use millions of acre-feet less than our apportionment every year due to hydrologic shortage and strict administration of water rights. The Upper Division States’ Alternative suggests that the Lower Basin water users should also take steps to live within the available supply, as Upper Basin water users have done for years.
Colorado is committed to working with the other Basin states, the Tribal Nations, and the Bureau of Reclamation toward collaborative and sustainable solutions on the Colorado River. We are prepared to defend Colorado’s significant interests in the Colorado River. But I believe that the best outcomes, particularly for Arizona and the other Lower Basin states, happen when the states negotiate together.
This moment makes it clear that the status quo is not working. We cannot continue the demand-based management of Lakes Powell and Mead. We must move to a supply-based framework where actual water supplies mean the entire Colorado River Basin is living within the means of the river.”
The outgoing Biden-Harris administration released five proposed alternatives this week, to go along with the proposals from the different basins.
The proposals will be left for the incoming Trump-Vance administration to review, with formal environmental assessments to follow before the 2026 deadline.
