Environment

Lower Basin States agree to decrease water use to bolster Colorado River

Arizona, California and Nevada announced the agreement Monday.

Humberto Sanchez

03:50 PM, May 22, 2023

FILE – Water flows down the Colorado River downriver from Hoover Dam in northwest Arizona, on Aug. 14, 2022, near the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The Biden administration on Tuesday, April 11, 2023, released an environmental analysis of competing plans for how Western states and tribes reliant on the dwindling Colorado River should cut their use. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Arizona, California and Nevada announced an agreement Monday to use less Colorado River water to help it recover, after the region’s population growth and a two-decade-long drought led to the basin’s two major reservoirs dropping to historically low levels this year.

The Colorado River Lower Basin States agreed to conserve 3 million acre-feet over the next three years, according to a joint release from Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R).

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