With the drought-riddled Colorado River careening toward crisis levels in the coming months and seven Western states bitterly deadlocked on how to share its diminished flows, one faction is attempting to break off and go it alone.
Over the past week, the downstream states of Arizona, California and Nevada have been negotiating feverishly over a potential deal to divvy up water delivery cuts for the next few years and develop a handful of tools for blunting the pain that will stem from them.
It’s a Hail Mary bid to exert some control over their own fate as the Interior Department prepares to begin unilaterally operating the river’s system of dams and canals starting in October. So far, the agency has floated potential options that could have sprawling economic consequences for the arid region’s cities, farmers and tribes.
“The idea is to try to get through the immediate next couple of years of extreme drought and have some security,” said Terry Goddard, president of the board of that oversees the Central Arizona Project, the canal system that delivers water to Phoenix, Tucson and their suburbs and is extremely legally vulnerable in the water fight.
