Arizona escalates water war, intervening in lawsuit over federal Colorado River cuts
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In a sign of rising tensions over the water-starved Colorado River, Arizona has joined Nevada in suing the Trump administration for imposing major water cutbacks across the Southwest.
Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke announced Friday that the state filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit by the neighboring state.
He said the mandatory water cuts under the federal plan “would devastate Arizona’s economy.”
Nevada sued to challenge the Trump administration’s 10-year plan in August, saying similarly that what it receives from the river could shrink so much that it would devastate Las Vegas and surrounding cities.
The expanding legal fight could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court and further complicate efforts by seven western states to agree on how to share water from the shrinking river and its reservoirs, which are at record low levels.
Negotiators for seven states remain deeply divided over how to cut water use along the Colorado River. The chances of a court battle appear to be growing, with the threat of deep cuts in water deliveries to California and other Western states.
In recent years, Arizona has depended on the Colorado River for 36% of its water. Much of it flows through the Central Arizona Project, the series of canals that run from the river to the Phoenix and Tucson areas.
But under the Trump administration plan, much or all of the water the state gets from the CAP canal could be slashed. Arizona faces especially large cutbacks because the CAP isn’t nearly as old as other aqueducts, giving it low-priority water rights and putting it among the first in line for cuts.
The Colorado River provides water for about 35 million people in cities from Denver to San Diego, as well as 30 Native tribes. About three-fourths of the water taken from it flows to farmland — about 5 million acres of it — producing alfalfa for cattle, lettuce, broccoli and other crops.
This year, the Rocky Mountains had the least snow on record, and the lack of snowmelt is sinking reservoir levels lower.
Over the last three years, negotiators repeatedly held talks to try to reach a seven-state agreement to take less water, but the three downstream states, California, Arizona and Nevada, deadlocked with the four upstream states.
Arizona and Nevada have agreed with California — and the federal government — on cuts for the next two years, and will reduce the water they take by 3.2 million acre-feet between now and the end of 2028.
For those two years, California will cut its Colorado River water use by about 12%, while Arizona will take about 31% less and Nevada 28% less. Buschatzke said Arizona is “strongly committed” to this deal and is in talks to finalize the details.
What the three states object to is that the Trump administration is not requiring water cuts for Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said she “will not accept a forced federal plan that solves this crisis on the backs of our families, farmers, and businesses.”
“We are drawing a line in the sand,” Hobbs said.
The state is taking legal action, she said, because the federal government refuses to hold the upstream states “accountable for the water deliveries they owe Arizona, and is threatening to force draconian cuts.”
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, welcomed his neighbor’s participation.
Arizona and Nevada object to the idea they could be ordered to endure much larger cuts after 2028.
The state of Nevada is suing to challenge the Trump administration’s new plan for dealing with water shortages along the Colorado River.
The federal plan allows for drastic water reductions if they’re deemed necessary between 2029 and 2036, potentially requiring the three downstream states to cut 3 million acre-feet per year — as much as 40% of what they get.
“The United States’ decision puts the entire burden of sacrifice on the shoulder of three states,” Buschatzke said. “Such reductions could effectively dry up the Central Arizona Project.”
California uses more Colorado River water than any other state. None of California’s water officials have indicated the state is considering suing.
In the last quarter-century, relentless drought intensified by climate change has sapped the river’s flow and left its reservoirs severely depleted.
Both Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the nation’s largest reservoirs, have never been lower.
Arizona officials previously warned the federal government that if the water flowing into Lake Mead decreases further, it will trigger the state’s right to sue for a violation of the Colorado River Compact, a 1922 agreement that divided the water among the states.
The century-old agreement requires the water released from upstream dams for Arizona, Nevada and California to average at least 7.5 million acre-feet over any decade, plus an allotment for Mexico.
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