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The Colorado River Basin is in the 23rd year of a historic drought and the nation's two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, are at historically low levels. In light of prolonged drought, low runoff conditions, and reduced reservoir elevations, the Bureau of Reclamation announced details regarding 2023 Colorado River operations under federal water shortage which includes additional cuts to Colorado River allocations. Lake Mead will head into 2023 under a federal water shortage for the second straight year. The shortage declaration was made early Tuesday, August 16 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and means Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will face additional cuts in their Colorado River allocation in 2023.
Release of the Bureau's 24-Month Study and the corresponding announcement regarding 2023 operating condition coincided with Bureau Commissioner Touton's deadline for Basin States to identify actions that take critical steps to conserve an additional 2-4 million acre feet to protect critical elevations in the Colorado River's two balancing reservoirs. Basin States failed to present a plan by the deadline. In response, Commission Touton released a statement with the following: "There are a lot of conversations about how we collectively mitigate the impacts of drought and climate change on the Colorado River and our shared goal of forming durable and equitable solutions. But to date, the states collectively have not identified and adopted specific actions of sufficient magnitude that would stabilize the system. Today, Reclamation is initiating multiple processes to pursue actions as authorized to examine among other tools, the ability to further manage elevations in the basin's reservoirs, maximize efficient and beneficial uses, and assess evaporation, seepage and other system loses in the lower basin."
In a statement released by the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) following today's release of the 24-month study, announcement of shortage operations in 2023 and anticipated signing of the Inflation Reduction Act, IID Board President Jim Hanks offers "Imperial Irrigation District appreciates Reclamation's work and that of our partners as we collectively attempt to reach an accord that addresses the severe drought on the Colorado river . . . IID looks forward to learning more details about the support for investing in system conservation and voluntary agreements in the Lower Basin and the administrative actions needed to further define reservoir operations at Lake Mead, including shortage operations . . . IID will continue to work to provide contributions toward workable solutions."
In a Metropolitan Water District statement, MWD General Manager Hagekhalil describes the Commissioner's comments relative to today's developments as a "limited extension to meet the goal."
A critical component of any Colorado River Elevation Protection Plan is funding. Hours after the Bureau's announcement, President Biden's signed the Inflation Reduction Act which includes $4 billion in funding for water management and conservation efforts.
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