The Arizona Department of Water Resources on Friday announced it is filing a motion to intervene in Nevada's lawsuit against the federal government over rights to the Colorado River.
The Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada have argued that the new plan set forth by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation does not honor legal obligations the Upper Basin states — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — have to the Lower Basin states.
Under Colorado River Compact of 1922, the Upper Basin states must allow 75 million acre-feet flow to the Lower Basin states over a 10-year period. A 2012 update expanded that to add an annual allocation to flow to Mexico. A rough equation of where the new obligation is around 82.5 million acre-feet over 10 years, as presented at an Arizona water meeting earlier this year.
