California is alone in battle over Colorado River water cuts

After a key deadline passed this week without an agreement on how to address the Colorado River’s crisis, California is now sharply at odds with six other states over how to take less water from the shrinking river. “California is trying to play its best card, which is, ‘The law is on our side.’ And the other six states are trying to play their best card: ‘We are on each other’s side.’” The parties are at an impasse as the federal government begins to weigh alternatives for rapidly reducing water use and preventing the river’s reservoirs from reaching dangerously low levels. California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot said the state’s proposal is “timely, practical and achievable in a way that works within existing law.” The so-called “Law of the River” is based on the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which divided water among the seven states, as well as various court decisions and agreements of the last century. California’s agricultural water agencies, in particular the Imperial Irrigation District and Palo Verde Irrigation District, hold senior water rights that date back more than a century, giving California a privileged position under the prior-appropriation water rights system, often described as “first in time, first in right.” Less than four years ago, the states seemed to be solving problems amicably, and agreed to water reductions in a deal called the Drought Contingency Plan. JB Hamby, the chair of California’s Colorado River Board, said in a submittal letter that the state’s proposal would “minimize the risk of legal challenge.” Arizona water agencies released a statement Wednesday responding critically to California’s proposal, which they said “reflects a strict adherence to a California definition of the Law of the River.” “But there are different interpretations of what that Law of the River actually means,” the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Central Arizona Project said, adding that the six-state proposal is the “most equitable and efficient way” of dealing with the river’s severe water deficit due to drought, climate change and overuse.