With parts of the US Southwest suffering their worst drought conditions in more than a millennium, the federal government has ordered reductions in Colorado River water allotments to the states of Arizona and Nevada, as well as to Mexico.
The water cuts will begin in January and will hit Arizona the hardest, reducing its Colorado River allotment by 21%, or 592,000 acre-feet, the US Department of the Interior (DOI) announced on Tuesday. Nevada faces an 8% cut, or 25,000 acre-feet, while water flows to the south of the US-Mexico border will be reduced by 7%, or 104,000 acre-feet. California, which draws more than one-third of the river’s water, won’t see any cut to the 4.4 million acre-feet of water that it receives annually.
The announcement comes one year after the federal government declared an unprecedented water shortage in Lake Mead and the Lower Colorado River Basin, portending supply cuts. A Colorado River compact signed in 1922 governs water management affecting seven states – California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming – and Mexico.