Wednesday August 17, 2022
Eureka Times-Standard —
Seven western states and the 40 million people in them that depend on the Colorado River can’t yet agree how to use less water and Tuesday federal officials told them to cut even deeper.
The river is drying and the states through which it flows — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah — have been drawing too much water for years, heading toward disaster.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation gave the seven states until Monday to voluntarily find a way to save at least 21% of the river’s annual flows, threatening to take over the process and impose its own cuts. But the states didn’t meet the deadline and experts worry they’re fracturing at a time when they most need to work together.
“They are not singing ‘Kumbaya’ right now,” Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network told The Denver Post. “They’re sharpening their knives.”