Colorado River cuts won’t affect Chandler taps, manager says

By Jason W. Brooks
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The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Aug. 21 announcement likely won’t mean anything to city of Chandler water customers in 2027 or most of 2028, according to one city director.

But the details of the announcement have no bearing on what might happen with Colorado River water in the Valley in late 2028 and 2029.

The bureau finalized its plans for Colorado River operations for the 2027 and 2028 water years when Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed operating guidelines for those years, along with a record of decision.

Water years generally run Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

The guidelines call for cuts for Chandler and most other users currently receiving any amount or percentage of its overall water portfolio from the Colorado River.

Many Arizona water managers and elected officials were already sounding off July 31 when the Bureau of Reclamation announced general apportionments and cuts listed by state.

But Simone Kjolsrud, water resources manager for the city of Chandler, said the bureau’s Environmental Impact Statement and identified preferred alternative for the next 10 years of coordinated reservoir operations includes a “very wide range” of potential operating conditions.

Also, the guidelines announced July 31 didn’t include detailed operations for the next two years.

Now that the bureau has provided many of those short-term details, Kjolsrud said the week of Sept. 1 it appears as though Chandler won’t need to make major changes within the next two years that will affect the city’s water users.

The city of Chandler has, by policy, been in stage 1 of its drought management plan for just over four years, having implemented the initial phase in June 2022. Stage 1 is an advisory status in which city staff focus on public education and encouraging voluntary water conservation due to projected shortages on the Colorado River, city documents state.

“We don’t have any plans to go to stage 2,” Kjolsrud said, referring to a stage that would involve using surface water supplies and cutting use at city facilities. “The Arizona Department of Water Resources is telling us to plan for 16% cuts, while our Stage 2 would only be invoked if we had to cut 20%.”

Kjolsrud said the main impact to cities like Chandler, in the short term, is to the city’s ability to put more water in reserve as part of the “savings account” the city has saved up, she said.

“That’s why we have always kept an eye on long-term declines of all supplies, especially water from that river,” Kjolsrud said. “So this change won’t affect water at the tap.”

Chandler currently only gets 37% of its water from the Colorado River, with 57% coming from the Salt and Verde rivers and 6% from groundwater wells.

The Bureau of Reclamation’s 2027-28 published guidelines don’t require any mandatory cuts from the four Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming while requiring a combined 1.25 million acre-feet in each year of the next two years to the Lower Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada.

An acre foot of water, such as: An acre-foot is enough water to cover 1 acre in 1 foot of water, or about 326,000 gallons.
Arizona will absorb the majority of those cuts at 760,000 acre-feet annually, with California at 440,000 and Nevada at 50,000 acre-feet, respectively.

The guidelines also call for providing objective criteria to determine releases from Lake Powell based on actual hydrology and maintaining a minimum elevation of 3,510 feet to support continued operational reliability at Glen Canyon Dam, the Bureau states. A separate binational process addressing water deliveries to Mexico is nearing completion, with a 1944 treaty in mind.

The city’s two exchange contracts with the neighboring Gila River Indian Community will be reduced as a part of the new guidelines for 2027-28, Kjolsrud said.

“One contract will have a 10% reduction,” she said. “And on the other one, we don’t have any exact clarity yet, but it won’t be a cut of more than 10%.”

Arizona is prepared to cut nearly a third of its Colorado River water. The Lower Basin states requested a 2% cut for the Upper Basin states, but the federal government rejected it.

Arizona is first in line for cuts among the Lower Basin states. It has the lowest priority because of a 1970s agreement that supplied federal funding to build the Central Arizona Project canal, which carries water from Lake Havasu on the Colorado River to the Valley and to the Tucson area.

Kjolsrud said it’s also back to proposals and negotiations soon, as leaders from Arizona and other Colorado River states will be trying to protect their users’ interests in October 2028 and beyond.

In the meantime, Chandler leaders and staff will continue to encourage residents and organizations to curtail and conserve in dozens of ways, she said. From actively discouraging the overseeding non-essential turf areas to its grass removal rebate programs to encouraging less-frequent winter watering, the city is pushing to reduce its overall use.

“We need to continue to be responsible,” Kjolsrud said.

Jason W. Brooks can be reached at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.