Metropolitan Water District General Manager Adel Hagekhalil issues the following statement on the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s release today of a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for revised interim operations of the Colorado River through 2026, featuring the Lower Basin plan as the preferred alternative:
“The consensus agreement advanced today proves that when we work together, we can maintain a sustainable Colorado River. A year ago, we were in a starkly different place, facing the prospect of plummeting reservoirs and protracted litigation. But the Lower Basin States made a choice to sit down at the table and build realistic solutions that could quickly produce results. We committed to conserve 3 million acre-feet of additional water by 2026 – on top of savings agreed to in previous agreements – to stabilize reservoirs in the near-term.
“More than half of that additional conservation is coming from California. And we’re well on our way to fulfilling that commitment, after conserving a record amount of Colorado River water last year. Deliveries to the state in 2023 were the lowest since 1949 – 700,000 acre-feet lower than our 4.4 million acre-foot apportionment. Metropolitan alone saved 450,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead last year.
“Cities and farms across the state are working hard to lower their Colorado River water use – through fallowing programs, urban initiatives to replace thirsty grass with water-efficient landscaping, and investments in new local supplies and storage. These efforts have helped stabilize the Colorado River for now, but we must all do more.
“The agreement finalized today has bought us time. Now we must maintain the collaboration we’ve built to develop long-term, post-2026 stability.”
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