Biden proposes unprecedented changes to how states use drought-stricken Colorado River amid ongoing battles

The Biden administration is considering asking western states along the Colorado River to accept unprecedented cuts to their water allotments, as drought, climate change, and human overuse drain the winding river and water source for 40 million Americans.

At a press conference at the Hoover Dam on Tuesday, the administration’s Department of Interior announced it is considering two plans: one in which Arizona and California would be hit with equal, increased water allotment cuts, despite the latter’s firmly entrenched historical legal claims to the river.

That plan, according to the New York Times, could reduce both states’ allotment by as much as a quarter.

The other plan, meanwhile, would see Arizona face the deeper reductions, losing as much as half of its water allotment from the Colorado during dry years, according to Grist. The scheme would in turn likely cause major cuts to the state’s farm capacity and employment, and a federal canal that supplies major cities like Phoenix and Tucson would be all but cut off.

During the event on Tuesday, deputy interior secretary Tommy Beaudreau hinted that California’s claims to the river may not win out.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone advocate straight priority,” he said. “But it’s important for everyone to see what that would look like.”

The river, which supplies drinking water to millions of people in the US and Mexico, and feeds farm fields throughout the region, is in the middle of a 23-year drought, with flows already down 20 per cent, a dire situation likely to be made worse by the climate crisis.

Water levels could fall so low at the Glen Canyon Dam that its crucial hydropower generation capabilities would cease, according to federal projections.

The Biden administration avoided taking overt sides between the two plans, one of which is backed by California, and the other which is supported by the six main states that use the Colorado.

This approach was praised by some observers.

“It leaves space for productive negotiations, and now that we have a good snowpack, we have some room for the possibility of those productive negotiations to happen,” John Fleck, a Colorado River expert at the University of New Mexico, told Politico.

If states can’t agree to voluntary water cuts, the federal government could use its legal authorities and mandate emergency action.

The Interior Department has published its environmental review of the competing plans, opening a public comment period which will last for 45 days. The agency is expected to announce its preference this summer.