The Colorado River and its tributaries pass through seven states, serving tens of millions of people and generating billions in economic revenue... but the drought stricken river is at a crisis level.
Low water levels could threaten hydropower generation and normal operations at Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams.
Now, negotiations on a consensus-based model between all seven states are stalled.
California, the state which uses the largest allocation of water, is holding out on signing the Supplemental Environment Impact Statement (SEIS).
They plan to submit their own terms to the Bureau of Reclamation, the agency in charge of setting the water use rules in 2023 and 2024.
KTVN spoke with University of Nevada political science professor and water governance expert Elizabeth Koebele who tells us that the six states coming together on the SEIS is a step in the right direction, but without California... the process is muddled.
"California is the largest water user and they have the oldest most senior water rights on the system, so without California being involved it is going to be extremely complicated to implement anything, it's likely that it will go to litigation. And Nevada's role in this has really been sort of a neutral mediator and also a leader in this process."
Of the seven states, the Upper Basin consists of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and New Mexico. The Lower Basin is California and Arizona.
Koebele tells us that the lower basin have the most senior water rights in the entire system, so even though cities like Los Angeles and Phoenix use the most water they will be the last areas to face cuts.
However, not much pressure is being put on Nevada.
"Nevada's role in this has really been sort of a neutral mediator and also a leader in this process," said Koebele.
The state is already under-using the amount of water it is allocated
"We are in a unique situation where we can conserve water or recycle it, return it to Lake Mead, and get a credit essentially to pull out more water in the Colorado River Basin, and we're the only state that can do that,” said Koebele.
The 1922 Colorado River compact makes the oldest water rights virtually untouchable.
Koebele says many of the compact laws that govern the Colorado River expire in 2026, so the agreements going on currently between the seven states should be looked at as emergency measures between now and 2026.
Once the compact expires, it could open the flood gates in terms of discussions about how much water some states get over others.
