Gov. Katie Hobbs blasted officials of the four Upper Colorado River Basin states for what she called their “extreme negotiating position” in refusing to offer curbs on their water use to help save the depleted river.
“This river is shared by seven states, and it benefits seven states. Therefore there must be water conservation efforts in all seven states within the Colorado River Basin,” Hobbs said Wednesday in Tucson at a gathering of the National Water Resources Association Meeting Leadership Forum.
Hobbs
“Yet as I stand before you today, after years of negotiations and meeting after meeting after meeting, and time running short to cut a deal, we have yet to see any offer or real, verifiable plan to conserve water from the four Upper Basin States who rely upon this shrinking river,” Hobbs said in a talk at Loew’s Ventana Canyon resort on the northeast side.
She spoke as months of negotiations over how to cut water use on the imperiled river have produced not even a hint of compromise, let alone a solution, from representatives of the seven basin states. Arizona, Nevada and California comprise the river’s Lower Basin. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming make up the Upper Basin.
The U.S. Interior Department has told the state representatives that if they don’t reach an agreement by Tuesday, Nov. 11, the federal agency will first propose and ultimately impose its own solution on the states to save river water. That is a step none of the seven states’ officials want to see, not least because it raises the possibility of litigation from states that dislike the feds’ action.
The seven states this century have been using far more river water for farms, homes and businesses than is provided by Mother Nature, with the overuse now reaching 3.6 million acre-feet a year, or more than one-fourth of the river’s annual average flow. Those annual flows have declined at least 20% since the turn of the century due to drought and human-caused climate change, many scientists have said.
The Upper Basin states have so far not retreated from their position that they see no reason to conserve any additional water because they say many of their farmers, in particular, have already suffered many shortages in recent years when flows in the river and its tributaries aren’t enough to satisfy demand. The Upper Basin states also note that they use significantly less water than they have rights to use under the 1922 Colorado River Compact, while the Lower Basin states typically use more than their allocated rights, particularly when evaporation of water in the Lower Basin’s stretch of river and its tributaries is considered.
In a brief interview Wednesday, Hobbs noted that Arizona has one of the fastest growing economies in the US and that could be undercut by an unfavorable CAP allotment. Hobbs went on to say the state maintaining a leadership role in the chip manufacturing industry is not only an economic issue, but also one of national security because some of the most advanced computer chips in the U.S. are being manufactured here.
In her speech Hobbs said, “We see time and time again, Arizona, California and Nevada coming to the table, offering significant water cutbacks, and seeing nothing from the Upper Basin.
“Now, I will be clear that in the Lower Basin, we must be prepared to continue to increase our commitments to conserve water, and we will certainly do so. But a plan where the Lower Basin bears the burden of all shortages, where we shoulder the entirety of the water reductions while not one single acre-foot is put on the table by the Upper Basin states is an unacceptable outcome for Arizona families, farmers and businesses,” she said.
“This is the extreme negotiating position we are confronted with as the Upper Basin states, led by Colorado, continue to run down the clock,” Hobbs said. “As we approach critical deadlines, we need the Trump administration to step in, exert leadership and broker a deal.”
