Trump Administration Plans Up To 3 Million Acre-Feet Cuts — Federal Drought Plan Colorado River

The Trump administration is preparing a federal drought plan colorado river that would require water reductions across Arizona, California and Nevada. Federal officials told state water managers in Phoenix they are building a 10-year framework that would be reassessed every two years.

Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, said the proposed cuts could reach 3 million acre-feet per year, or as much as 40% of the three states' combined allotments. California, Arizona and Nevada have offered to use roughly 1.6 million acre-feet less annually over the next two years, setting up a wider gap between what they have offered and what the federal plan could demand.

Phoenix Briefing

Buschatzke said federal officials informed state water managers in Phoenix about the developing framework. He described the potential mandatory reductions as a “sobering possibility” for Arizona.

The river supplies about 35 million people and 5 million acres of farmland from the Rocky Mountains to northern Mexico, and farms use about three-fourths of the water drawn from it. That scale explains why the plan carries immediate consequences for deliveries in the lower basin states.

Seven-State Divide

Negotiators for seven states remain deeply divided over how to cut water use along the Colorado River. The states are split between California, Arizona and Nevada on one side and Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico on the other, and the four upper states have called for a mediator to break the impasse.

The administration had already released a draft outline in January with four alternatives, including “basic coordination,” which the federal report said could be done absent an agreement among the states. Scott Cameron, the Bureau of Reclamation's acting commissioner, urged state officials to reach a “consensus-based approach” by mid-February, but the deadline passed without a deal.

That leaves the states with two pressures at once: voluntary cutbacks have already been used for three years, along with federal payments to farmers who leave fields dry part of the year, while Lake Mead and Lake Powell continue to drop. The growing possibility of a court battle now sits over a plan meant to keep water deliveries moving in a river system that still lacks a deal among seven states.