The Upper Colorado River Commission sent a letter to the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) stating any work to balance water demand from the Colorado River would require “collaboration and efforts from all Basin states and water use sectors.”
“Accordingly, we stand ready to participate in and support efforts, across the Basin, to address the continuing dry hydrology and depleted storage conditions,” Upper Colorado River Commission Executive Director Charles Cullom said in a July 18 letter. “However, the options the Upper Division States have available to protect critical reservoir elevations are limited.”
The letter to BOR Commissioner Camille Touton comes after her testimony to the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources in June, asking states to provide 2-4 million acre-feet (an acre-foot is 325,851 gallons) of water to preserve levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
As of July 25, the water level at Lake Powell was 3,536 feet, 46 feet above when the Glen Canyon Dam can no longer produce hydroelectric power. Lake Mead is currently at 1,040 feet, 15 feet above Tier 3 conditions, which would result in further water cutbacks to Arizona and Nevada.
In response, water managers from the Upper Basin states devised a “5 Point Plan” in conjunction with a plan developed by the Lower Basin states.
“The challenges facing the Colorado River are significant and require action across the entire Basin,” said Upper Colorado River Commissioner Rebecca Mitchell in a statement. “While the options available in the Upper Division states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are limited by hydrologic conditions, we are doing our part to protect the system.
“The Upper Basin states take water cuts responsive to hydrologic conditions and have also provided a significant amount of water from our upstream reservoirs. On top of these actions, we have developed a comprehensive new 5 Point Plan. But these efforts will be successful only if additional actions are taken downstream of Lake Powell.”
The plan asks Congress to reauthorize the 2014 System Conservation Pilot Project through 2026. The pilot program offered payments to water rights holders who reduced water consumption through programs such as fallowing farmland, turf removal and injecting treated wastewater into aquifers.
Secondly, it calls for developing a 2023 Drought Response Operations Plan in August 2022, with finalization in April 2023. The 2022 plan, which expires in April 2023, calls for the release of water from the Flaming Gorge Reservoir for Lake Powell. As of July 25, Flaming Gorge is at 74.3 percent of capacity.
In June, BOR announced it would release 500,000 acre-feet from Flaming Gorge in addition to holding back 480,000 acre-feet to preserve water levels at Lake Powell.
The letter also said Upper Basin states would “consider an Upper Basin Demand Management Program as interstate and intrastate investigations are completed.”
Demand management was part of the 2019 Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan and the Colorado River Compact. Upper and Lower Basin states agreed to preserve water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell. The Upper Basin states would protect levels at Lake Powell in compliance with the compact and would “establish the foundation for the storage of water in the Upper Basin as part of a Demand Management Program that may be developed in the future,” according to the Upper Colorado River Commission.
Other elements in the letter include funding for enhanced monitoring and measurement tools to improve water management in the Upper Basin states and continue strict water management within the water supply.
“Reclamation data shows that Lower Basin and Mexico depletions are more than double the depletions in the Upper Basin. Therefore, additional efforts to protect critical reservoir elevations must include significant actions focused downstream of Lake Powell. Otherwise, the effectiveness of our 5 Point Plan will be limited,” the letter reads.
According to the commission, the Upper Basin states used about 3.5 million acre-feet of water in 2021, down from 4.5 million acre-feet the prior year. The Lower Basin states, including Mexico, used about 10 million acre-feet in 2021, up slightly from the prior year.
“The challenges in the Colorado River Basin affect us all and require collaboration across the entire basin,” Cullom wrote. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
