Next year’s Colorado River water cut will remain the same in Arizona, Nevada

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico will continue to live with less water next year from the Colorado River after the US government on Thursday announced water cuts to maintain the status quo. Long-term challenges remain for the 40 million people who depend on the endangered river.

The 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) river is a lifeline in the US West and provides water to cities and farms in northern Mexico, too. It supports seven Western states, more than a dozen Native American tribes and irrigates millions of acres of farmland in the American West. It also produces hydroelectric power that is used throughout the region.

Years of overuse combined with rising temperatures and drought means less water flows in Colorado today than in decades past.

The Department of the Interior announces next year’s water availability months in advance so that cities, farmers, and others can plan. Officials do this based on water levels in Lake Mead, one of the river’s two largest reservoirs that serve as gauges of its health.

Based on those rates, Arizona would also lose 18% of its total Colorado River, while Mexico would lose 5%. The reduction in Nevada—which receives far less water than Arizona, California, or Mexico—will remain at 7%.

The cuts announced Thursday are in the same “Tier 1” category that was in effect this year and in 2022, when the state’s first shutdown of the Colorado River began and exacerbated the problem on the river. Deeper cuts followed in 2023. Arizona farmers were hit hard by those cuts.

Heavy rains and other water conservation efforts by Arizona, California, and Nevada have improved the short-term outlook for Lake Mead and Lake Powell, upstream of the Mead River on the Utah-Arizona border.

Officials on Thursday said the two dams are 37% full.

They praised the ongoing efforts of Arizona, California, and Nevada to save more water, which is effective until 2026. The federal government pays water users in those states for most of those savings. Meanwhile, states, tribes, and others are debating how to share water from the river after 2026, when many of the current guidelines governing the river expire.

Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the state’s lead spokesman for those talks, said Thursday that Arizonans were “committing themselves to incredible conservation . . . to protect the Colorado River system. “

“Future conditions,” he added, “may continue to force difficult decisions.”

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-Suman Naishadham, Associated Press

Amy Taxin contributed to this report.