Interior Secretary Doug Burgum warned Monday that while his agency is prepared to temporarily allocate reduced Colorado River flows — including which states will see steep drops in their water supplies — the waterway’s future could be decided by the federal courts.
In an interview on the Phoenix-based radio station KTAR News, Burgum briefly discussed the ongoing negotiations over a new long-term operating plan for the Colorado River.
The current operating plan, along with a series of short-term measures to address drought, will expire in September. A new plan must be in place for the start of the water year on Oct. 1.
Negotiators representing the seven states that share the river — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — have spent more than two years haggling over a plan but have failed to reach agreement, deadlocked over how to reduce water use and which states must give up flows to do so.
