Senior leaders from the Department of the Interior are outlining new actions to protect the Colorado River System from drought.
“The prolonged drought afflicting the West is one of the most significant challenges facing our country. As a 35th generation New Mexican, I have seen firsthand how climate change is exacerbating the drought crisis and putting pressure on the communities who live across Western landscapes,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. “We must work together to make the tough choices necessary to chart a sustainable future for the Colorado River System on which more than 40 million people depend. As we move forward, we will do so with key guiding principles, including collaboration, equity and transparency. I am committed to bringing every resource to bear to help manage the drought crisis and provide a sustainable water system for families, businesses and our vast and fragile ecosystems.”
The new actions will build on those announced in August 2022 as part of the Colorado River Basin August 2022 24-Month Study, which set the annual operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead in 2023. Those previous actions decided that Lake Powell will operate in the Lower Elevation Balancing Tier in water year 2023 and Lake Mead will operate in its first-ever Level 2a Shortage Condition in calendar year 2023 requiring reduced allocations and water savings contributions for the Lower Basin States and Mexico.
The Department says that its approach will continue to seek consensus support and will be based on a continued commitment to engage with diverse stakeholders to ensure all communities that rely on the Colorado River will provide contributions toward the solutions. The Department is also preparing for administrative actions necessary to ensure that the Colorado River System can sustainably deliver vital water supplies, power, and other services.
Current Efforts
During the Symposium, which brings leaders together from across the Basin, the Department leaders are outlining steps that Reclamation is taking to facilitate ongoing efforts to conserve water and protect the Colorado River System.
These ongoing efforts include:
- Ensuring that the Lower Basin states continue to work on developing voluntary measures and agreements to conserve water and finalizing those agreements as soon as possible. They also highlighted the need for ongoing collaboration with the Upper Basin states to develop additional conservation agreements and operational adjustments.
- Working with the Upper Basin states to support their five-point plan, including:
- development of their demand management plans
- reauthorization of System Conservation
- investment in improved monitoring and reporting infrastructure
- encouragement of strict water management and administration
- development of a 2023 Drought Response Operations plan
- Making investments in drought resilience and water management as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The Department says that it will focus on the strategic investments needed to improve the efficiency of water delivery systems that result in conservation and, ultimately, in reduced demands on the Colorado River's shrinking supplies.
Taking Action to Protect the System
In light of critically low water supplies and dire hydrological projections, the Department also announced new actions:
- Begin a process to address operational realities under the current 2007 Interim Guidelines while it continues to develop alternatives for sustainable operations under the new guidelines.
- Move forward with actions to authorize a reduction of Glen Canyon Dam releases below seven million acre-feet per year, if needed, to protect critical infrastructure at Glen Canyon Dam.
- Prepare to manage elevations in Lake Powell by implementing emergency drought operations.
- Take action to make additional reductions in 2023, as needed, through an administrative process to evaluate and adjust triggering elevations and increase reduction volumes.
- Accelerate ongoing maintenance actions and studies of the bypass tubes at Glen Canyon Dam to potentially increase water delivery capacity during low reservoir levels.
- Ensure that water use determinations for the Lower Basin satisfy appropriate beneficial use standards.
- Assess how to account for and allocate system losses due to evaporation, seepage, and other losses.
Implementing the Inflation Reduction Act
Department leaders outlined the framework under consideration for the funds as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes $4 billion in funding specifically for water management and conservation efforts in the Colorado River Basin and other areas experiencing similar levels of drought.
The Department says that it will establish a two-step process to solicit short-term conservation contributions and longer-term durable system efficiency projects.
Longer-term projects could include initiatives such as canal lining, re-regulating reservoirs, ornamental and non-functional turf removal, salinity projects and other infrastructure. Projects could also be related to aquatic ecosystem restoration and impacts mitigation, crop water efficiency, rotational fallowing, and marginal land idling.
