With no seven-state Colorado River agreement in hand, Gov. Katie Hobbs and Arizona legislative leaders from both parties asked the U.S. Interior Department Tuesday to step in and ensure any agreement to curb overuse of river water requires the riverβs Upper Basin states to limit their use.
The letter to Interior, marking a rare moment of bipartisanship among Arizona political leaders, makes the point that given the riverβs importance to Arizonaβs economy and the 22 Arizona tribes that have river water rights, βWe find it alarming that the Upper Basin states have refused to implement any binding, verifiable water supply reductions.β
βThis extreme negotiating posture β four of the seven basin states refusing to participate in any sharing of water shortages β has led to a fundamental impasse that is preventing the successful development of a 7-state consensus plan for management of the Colorado River,β said the letter, sent Tuesday to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. It also asks Interior to ensure compliance with the 1922 Colorado River Compact.
The letter was signed by Hobbs, a Democrat; Senate President Warren Peterson and House Speaker Steve Montenegro, Republicans; and Sen. Priya Sundareshan and Rep. Oscar De Los Santos, Democrats who are the Senate and House minority leaders.
Shortly after Hobbs publicly released that letter Tuesday afternoon, the seven basin statesβ officials β along with officials from Interior and its Bureau of Reclamation β collectively released a statement.
It acknowledged that no seven-state agreement had been reached by Tuesdayβs deadline for a water-saving plan, which had been set by Interior, and committed to continuing the discussions, with no end date given.
βWhile more work needs to be done, collective progress has been made that warrants continued efforts to define and approve details for a finalized agreement. Through continued cooperation and coordinated action, there is a shared commitment to ensuring the long-term sustainability and resilience of the Colorado River system,β the statement said.
βThe seven Colorado River Basin states together with the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Reclamation recognize the serious and ongoing challenges facing the Colorado River. Prolonged drought and low reservoir conditions have placed extraordinary pressure on this critical water resource that supports 40 million people, tribal nations, agriculture, and industry.β
The Upper Basin states are Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The Lower Basin states are Arizona, California and Nevada.
The letter and the seven-state statement came out a few hours after Hobbs, on her own, came out swinging on the Colorado River issue, saying she didnβt expect the seven states to reach an agreement by Tuesdayβs deadline and asking the Interior Department to step in and broker a solution.
Hobbs told Capitol Media Servicesβ Howard Fischer, βThe Lower Basin states have come to the table with offer after offer, with real sacrifices in our water, Arizona taking the brunt of that sacrifice, and the Upper Basin, really being led by Colorado, has refused to budge at all and refused to take any cuts.
βAnd a Colorado River future that puts all the cuts on Arizona, that the upper basin doesnβt take any cuts, is not acceptable,β she said.
The governor said itβs clear federal leadership is needed βbecause the Upper Basin has refused to move. So weβre looking at the prospect of not having an agreement by the end of today.β
The seven statesβ representatives were meeting in Phoenix on Tuesday in hopes of stitching together a last-second agreement, but Hobbs said no deal was expected. βWeβre going to continue to push on the federal government to help to broker a solution,β she said.
Gov. Katie Hobbs
That Hobbs is speaking out so explicitly on the negotiations is very rare. All other major parties to the seven-state talks have stayed silent on their progress or lack thereof, as the clock ticked toward Tuesdayβs deadline.
By calling Tuesday for stronger federal intervention in the dispute, Hobbs went a step beyond her comments on Nov. 5, when she told a gathering of water officials in Tucson that the Upper Basin states, led by Colorado, were taking an βextreme negotiating positionβ by refusing to offer any cuts in their river water use.
Both basinsβ representatives have said they believed a seven-state agreement was far preferable to having one dictated by the feds, which Interior officials have said they may have to do if the statesβ negotiations prove futile. The states have hoped to avoid litigation over the river issue because that could drag on for years, while the river flows keep declining and reservoir levels keep falling, as they have since 2000.
Hobbs, however, called for the feds to βbrokerβ a solution, not impose one. She didnβt explain what she meant by brokering a solution, but it presumably would mean the federal government would step up its efforts to push the seven states together without telling them what to do.
Later, Liliana Soto, Hobbs' press secretary, said the governor still wants to see a collaborative outcome to the discussions.Β
"Litigation can lead to decades in court, huge osts, and no real winners -- leaving states with less control over their water future," Soto said. "The push to work with the federal government is focused on ensuring that they fulfill their responsibility to facilitiat a deal, and to create presure when there are parties that are not negotiating in good faith."
During both the Biden and current Trump administrations, various players on the river issue have complained publicly and privately that Interiorβs Bureau of Reclamation β which manages the river and its reservoirs β has not exercised strong enough leadership on this issue.
Several have contrasted the fedsβ leadership now to the days of the Reclamation commissioner in President Donald Trumpβs first term, Brenda Burman, who repeatedly and successfully told state negotiators that if they didnβt come up with a drought contingency plan to start reducing river water use, she would essentially force one on them. A drought plan was subsequently adopted by the states in 2019, but continued declines in river flows have made it clear to all statesβ water leaders that it wasnβt adequate.
Asked Tuesday what Arizona wants out of a deal with the Upper Basin, Hobbs didnβt cite a specific level of cuts but emphasized itβs time for the four Upper Basin states to take some reductions.
βWe have already saved millions of acre-feet of water in Lake Mead leading into this yearβs negotiations. Weβve put more savings on the table in excess of 500,000 acre-feet. And weβre working with the users in the state to see what that looks like and how those cuts will be implemented,β the governor said.
βIn any situation, Arizonaβs going to take the brunt of the cuts. We can make those sacrifices. Weβve done it before and weβre willing to. But we need other states to be with us on that and take some cuts, too,β Hobbs said.
Upper Basin states have cited a number of reasons for not wanting to take any cuts, not least because they use far less water than the Lower Basin states. Water officials representing Colorado and Utah, who have previously been the most outspoken on river issues, didnβt immediately respond to requests from the Star to comment on Hobbsβ latest remarks.
Hobbs predicted that Interior officials will continue to have the seven states negotiate to try to land a deal, but said the feds need to βstep up and broker a deal.β
Asked if the states would negotiate indefinitely past Tuesdayβs deadline, Hobbs replied, βWe canβt be indefinite. Thereβs real federal deadlines coming up. We have to come to some solution by 2026.
βAnd I donβt see a solution happening. And I donβt think Tom Buschatzke at ADWR (does) without the federal government really stepping in and making something happen,β Hobbs said, referring to the Arizona Department of Water Resources director, the stateβs lead representative in Colorado River negotiations.
She was asked by Capitol Media Services why she thought Reclamation officials under the Trump administration will care about what happens to Arizona when two of the four Upper Basin states β Utah and Wyoming β are politically red. Arizonans voted decisively for Trump in 2024, but have also elected a Democratic governor, two Democratic senators and a Democratic secretary of state and attorney general in recent years.
βThe Colorado River in Arizona is fueling millions of Arizonans including 22 of the 30 basin tribes that rely on Colorado River, fueling the economy of the future, not just for Arizona but for the United States, bringing high-tech manufacturing to Arizona, fueling an agriculture industry that feeds 90% of North Americaβs leafy greens in the winter months when they canβt grow anywhere else,β Hobbs responded.
βSo itβs an important stake. Itβs not just about red states versus blue states. But itβs about what that water is fueling here in Arizona,β she said.
The letter from Hobbs and Arizona legislators didnβt explain what they meant by compliance with the 1922 compact. But for some time, numerous outside experts have said the Upper and Lower basins are heading to a βtripwireβ in 2027 or 2028, when itβs expected that river flows through Leeβs Ferry just west of Glen Canyon Dam will fall below minimum levels required by the compact.
The compact requires that the Upper Basin states release at least 75 million acre-feet of water through Leeβs Ferry over a 10-year period, according to numerous Lower Basin state officials and some outside experts. With passage of the 1944 treaty giving Mexico a 1.5 million annual acre-foot share of the river, some experts have now upped that minimum flow amount to 82.5 million acre-feet.
Because of the riverβs declining flows since 2000, itβs highly possible if not likely that the 10-year flow total will fall below 82.5 million by 2027, various experts have said. If that prospect seems likely, there has been a good chance that the Lower Basin states will sue Upper Basin states, trying to force them to curtail their river water use to come into compliance with the compact.
The Upper Basin states, however, have said the compact would require authorities to prove if the upper states have done something to deplete the riverβs flow. But they say itβs climate change, not excessive water use by the Upper Basin states, that threatens to knock river flows below the compact-established minimums.
Neither sideβs argument has been tested in court.
