The Trump administration and Southwestern states took a key step Wednesday toward adding expensive desalinated water to the drought-stressed region.
The Bureau of Reclamation and major water agencies from Arizona, California and Nevada signed onto an agreement to discuss how desalinated and recycled water could be traded and transferred among the three states that are highly reliant on the shriveling Colorado River.
“Today we are signing a short document that represents a potential great leap forward for the water security of the people of the Southwest,” acting Reclamation Commissioner Scott Cameron said during the ceremony at San Diego’s Claude “Bud” Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant.
Water managers increasingly think new supplies from desalination and water recycling plants will be an important part of keeping the taps on for the 40 million people across seven Western states who rely on the Colorado River. The waterway has shrunken 20 percent over the past quarter century and is facing its lowest flows on record this year.
