Due to overuse and climate change, the Colorado River is at a crossroads. A new management plan for the river is being drafted and the Sierra Club Colorado River Sub-Team is very engaged. We will be submitting comments on the Final EIS when it comes out in 2026. We will also ask members and Chapters to submit comments.
In November 1922 eight men signed the Colorado River Compact, an agreement between the seven river basin states and the Federal Government to divide the river's waters and eliminate future conflicts. It did the first and failed completely on the second. The apportionment of water was based on “optimistic” flows, although they were warned those numbers weren’t correct.
The Compact would ensure that each state could grow and develop water at its own pace, disregarding the law of Prior Appropriation between the states. Agriculture, flood control, and growing cities were the needs. Native American Tribes and the environment were not included.
The Compact paved the way for massive dams and diversions to feed the farms and cities of California, Arizona, and Nevada. They succeeded, creating an economy dependent on a reliable supply of water from the river.
Things have changed.
Then the Millennial Drought hit. In 2007, the seven states and Federal Government created a set of Interim Guidelines to deal with the shrinking reservoirs of Powell and Mead. These guidelines set elevation tiers at the dams for diversion cutbacks from the lower river. There have been other stop gap measures agreed to as the levels in the reservoirs continued to shrink.
The 2007 Interim Guidelines will expire at the end of 2026, and the states have been wrestling with a new agreement to replace them. It has been a challenging process. Both the Lower Basin and Upper Basin states have advanced proposals involving further reductions in diversions, principally for the Lower Basin. The two sides are at loggerheads, with the Lower Basin wanting to see deeper cuts and conservation from the Upper Basin. The Lower Basin historically took more water than their Compact allocation. To their credit, they have cut back significantly. But they still use far more water than the Upper Basin, which uses about half of its Compact allocation. But the Lower Basin wants the Upper Basin to contribute even more than drought and priority are already reducing their Colorado River diversions.
There is also an argument about obligation. The Lower Basin thinks there is an obligation to deliver at least 7.5 million acre feet per year on the Upper Basin. The Upper Basin argues it has a depletion requirement, not a delivery obligation. You cannot deliver what doesn’t exist.
Now the Tribes and environment are at the table. Tribes hold rights to as much as 30% of the rivers' native flow. Things are more complicated now than they were in 1922.
The states missed the Nov. 11 deadline for submitting a conceptual plan and now have until February 2026.
Stay tuned!
Ken Neubecker is a long-time Sierra Club member and has been deeply involved in Colorado River and water issues for over 30 years.
