More numbers on Colorado River water cuts will inform cities
Courtesy of City of Chandler
Chandler has taken many steps to use less water — including developing its reclaimed usage program. The city and other Valley users are likely to find out this week, in more documents to be published by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, exactly what local impact Colorado River water cuts to Arizona will have.
While some of Arizona’s state and federal elected officials were quick to take exceptions to a July 31 announcement from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation regarding potential cuts to Colorado River water in Arizona, it wasn’t immediately clear what the announcement means for every city and other water management organization in the Valley.
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, it does not include detailed operations for the next two years.
Kjolsrud said cities expect more details will be in the Record of Decision and the Two-Year Operating Guidelines, expected to be published the week of Aug. 3.
“Those documents will explain operations for 2027 and 2028, as well as a framework for the additional eight years of operations,” Kjolsrud said.
Meanwhile, Arizona leaders were railing against the federal government’s new plan to split water among Colorado River states.
The proposal announced on Friday has some general apportionments and cuts listed by state. It requires no mandatory cuts from the four Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming while requiring as much as 3 million acre-feet annually in cuts from the three Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada through 2036.
“Solving the Colorado River crisis demands a fair, basin-wide solution in which every stakeholder is asked to sacrifice,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego stated in a new release Friday. “Instead, the federal government takes aim at Arizona and Lower Basin states even though we continue to do our part and conservation is a core part of our water culture.
Phoenix is prepared to use less Colorado River water, but it is wrong to lay a disproportionate share of the burden on Arizona.”
The bureau’s plan includes several different alternatives for cuts based on how much rainfall and snowpack enter the river system. Under the most extreme cuts within a wide listed range, Arizona could lose 77% of its supply of Colorado River water.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources called the most severe cuts “unacceptable for the state of Arizona” in a news release.
The Lower Basin states submitted a proposal to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees the Colorado River, for lesser cuts for the three states over the next two years. While aspects of their plan were included in Friday’s announcement, the federal government did not agree to those proposed reduced cuts.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said in a news release Friday that 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.
Hobbs said her administration will work “around the clock” to persuade the federal government of a more equitable plan before the plan is finalized. The Arizona Department of Water Resources said the same in a news release.
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 Phoenix and Tucson areas.
In a Chandler City Council work session in May about water resources, Kjolsrud touched on many conservation and federal-implementation subjects, including Colorado River cuts. Her message was that more cuts that will impact Chandler and all other Valley water users is to be expected, to some degree.
Mark Carlisle of Independent Newsmedia contributed to this report.
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.
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