The federal government had imposed the deadline of August 16 on the seven states which share the waters of the river to propose an adjustment plan. In the absence of agreement, restriction measures have automatically entered into force.
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New water restrictions will strike the states of the Colorado Basin, the great American West river, prey to an unprecedented aridity. Tuesday, August 16, Camille Touton, the director of the Bureau of Reclamation (“Board of development”), the federal agency which manages water and dams, said that the drought that rages for the twenty-third year in The region is reaching “a point of no return”.
The two most important tanks in the country, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, are at “historically low levels”, she added, which require exceptional measures to guarantee the production of hydroelectricity. The office declared a “category 2 shortage”, which will force Arizona and Nevada to reduce their consumption from January 2023. Mexico is also concerned.
Colorado, 2,320 km long, feeds in water and hydroelectricity 40 million people in seven states, and 29 Indian tribes. The distribution of the annual flow of the river was defined by the Colorado Compact of 1922, signed with Mexico. This treaty provides for a solidarity mechanism between the upper basin states – the first on the river route (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico) – and those in the lower basin (Arizona, Nevada, California). Northern states must allow enough water to pass so that the south is not lacking.
In 2019, drought forced the negotiation of an additional emergency plan to save threatened tanks from falling under the level required for hydroelectric production. According to the agreement, a restriction mechanism is set up as soon as the level decreases under 325 m (1,066 feet) above sea level at Lake Mead, 50 km from Las Vegas. It had to be activated in 2021, for the first time since the inauguration of the Hoover dam in 1935. Arizona had lost 18 % of its water allowance, Nevada, 3 %. This summer, Lake Mead is only fulfilled 27 % of its capacity. In January 2023, the office provides that the level will fall under 316 m (1,040 feet).
California not affected for the moment
Utah and Arizona’s border upstream, Lake Powell and Arizona has also been at the lowest since the inauguration of the Glen Canyon dam, in 1964, and 26 % of its capacity. Authorities have taken exceptional measures to continue to supply turbines that generate electricity for 1.5 million households. They retained 592 million cubic meters which should have fed the Colorado, further reducing the contribution to Lake Mead.
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