Arizona leaders are railing against the federal government’s new plan to split water among Colorado River states.
The proposal announced on Friday requires no mandatory cuts from the four Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming while requiring as much as three 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.”
