Colorado River cuts could reach far beyond the West
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
From grocery stores to the electric grid, the Colorado River touches more of American life than most people realize. It supplies water to one in 10 Americans, supports farms that produce about 15% of the nation's food, and generates power for millions. For years, the Colorado River debate has centered on how to create or conserve more water. Now the federal government is confronting a harder question. Who gets less? Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday, August 5th, 2026. Brandon Loomis covers environmental and climate issues for the Arizona Republic, part of the USA Today Network, and has been reporting on a new federal framework. Brandon, thank you so much for being here.
How does the federal 10-year framework decide who gets less Colorado River water?
Thank you.
Let's start with what's new. What has the federal government decided so far and what's still up for negotiation?
The reservoirs have been dropping. The big reservoirs, the biggest two reservoirs in the country are now something like a quarter full. And for the last few years, the government has been trying to get the states, the seven states that use the river, to come up with some kind of agreement about how each state would react, how much less water we would use. And we haven't been able to agree to that. So this framework seeks to do that from the federal perspective, and it's going to last for 10 years. With each two years, we take another look and see how we have to adapt to what's coming down the river.
So walk me through how this framework works, what would happen during the first two years, and then what could trigger deeper cuts later?
So one detail that we're still waiting for is exactly the details about what the next two years will bring. Within that framework, basically there's a range of options from bad to worse for the people who are downstream of the reservoirs in Arizona, in California, and in Nevada. And so we're waiting to hear the details of how bad it's going to be during the first two years. From everything we're hearing from state sources, it seems that they're probably going to accept a deal that those three states offered, which is to reduce our share of the river by about one and a half million acre feet a year. And to put that in perspective, an acre foot is kind of a wonky term, but it's how they measure water.
It's the volume that would cover an acre to a one foot depth. And it's about 326,000 gallons, which is enough to support a few households in this region for a year. But most of the water is applied on farms. So the one and a half million acre feet is out of a share of supposedly half the river flow was going to be back in the last century. The half that these three states are entitled to was going to be seven and a half million acre feet.
What happens in the first two years of the framework and what could trigger deeper cuts?
So that's the supply they've got before in years past before they had to start cutting back already. And now for the next couple of years, it looks like if they accept that offer, that that's the reduction that these states will face. But if we have particularly bad winters like this last winter was, you know, the snowpack in the Rockies that feeds this river was the worst on record and the flow was very nearly the worst on record. So if we have another year like that, or two then within two years you can imagine that we'll be in for worse and this framework allows for a cutback of twice that much which would be really painful so help me understand how the cuts would be divided between arizona california and nevada if we assume that what we call the lower basin plan those three states are the lower base and if their offer is what the federal government imposes for the first two years
The bulk of it would go to Arizona, 760,000 acre feet per year. California would get 440,000 acre feet per year. And Nevada, I think 50,000 acre feet. And it's, you know, California has the biggest share of the river. Arizona's share, if times were good, would be 2.8 million acre feet. So giving up 760,000 is substantial, although we've already, under emergency measures, been giving up more than 500,000.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:58
2
How does the federal 10-year framework decide who gets less Colorado River water?
0:58–3:08
3
What happens in the first two years of the framework and what could trigger deeper cuts?
3:08–11:54
4
How big are the proposed cuts in acre-feet and what does an acre-foot mean?
11:54–15:21
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Excerpt
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