Colorado River officials throw barbs during annual river conference while at odds over future water use
State officials have been deliberating for nearly two years, but they are still at loggerheads over key issues as a deadline looms
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LAS VEGAS — The standoff over the Colorado River’s future continues.
Hundreds of people gathered in a Las Vegas conference room Thursday to get a much anticipated glimpse into negotiations over the river’s future management from seven state officials. What they heard was oft-repeated talking points, finger-pointing and disagreements over basic facts.
“My God, we are so far apart,” a rancher from California, who declined to share his name, murmured during the panel discussion.
The Colorado River has been stretched thin, overused and beset by over two decades of drought. The state negotiations are part of a long federal process to replace the current management rules, which expire in 2026 and outline how two key reservoirs, lakes Mead and Powell, store and release water in wet and dry years.
This Fresh Water News story is a collaboration between The Colorado Sun and Water Education Colorado. It also appears at wateredco.org/fresh-water-news.
The outcome of that federal process will decide how the water supply for 40 million people will be managed for years to come.
The state panel, hosted by the Colorado River Water Users Association, is a popular draw each year because it typically puts all seven state negotiators at the same table to offer a rare glimpse into their closed-door discussions.
This year, however, it was divided into two: one featuring the Lower Basin — Arizona, California and Nevada — and the other featuring the Upper Basin — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
The gulf between the groups was palpable, measured by applause.
The Lower Basin doubled down on its river management proposal, which outlines a system in which water cuts would be shared by all basin states in severely dry water years. The Lower Basin states would take the first cuts in less-dry years.
The downstream states said they have already conserved millions of acre-feet of water, and they are willing to do more.
“We didn’t complain. We didn’t hand-wring. We got it done, and we’re happy to provide notes to partners throughout the basin on how to get stuff done,” JB Hamby, California’s top negotiator, said Thursday.
The Upper Basin also focused on its proposal, which suggests that all of the mandatory cuts take place in the Lower Basin while the Upper Basin participates in voluntary conservation.
The Upper Basin does not have more to give, officials said. Its farmers, ranchers and other water users are already cut off in dry years because there is simply not enough water in rivers.
“In the Upper Basin, it’s the ‘Hunger Games.’ We are hungry all the time. There is never enough,” said Becky Mitchell, Colorado’s top negotiator. “That’s what we’re asking to be acknowledged.”
All of the governor-appointed officials have said, repeatedly, that they’re committed to coming back to the negotiating table — except this week, when the negotiators did not hold their annual preconference meeting.
The states have been fighting over these and other complex details of the negotiations for nearly two years. They’re about halfway through the federal process, which has a hard-stop deadline in August 2026. It may sound far off, but the process must include time for public comment, revisions, required waiting periods and more.
For months, states have said they want to avoid one outcome: a legal fight in the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices without expertise in Western water law would take control of decisions about the river’s future.
Recently, the Lower Basin officials have changed their tone, gaining support for enforcing a “compact call,” or forced water cuts in the Upper Basin. The Upper Basin officials have interpreted this as a step toward litigation.
Wyoming’s top negotiator, Brandon Gebhart, said the enmity needs to end.
“We really need to understand that the enemy we’re battling right now is not the Upper Basin. It’s not the Lower Basin: it’s hydrology,” Gebhard said. “All the rhetoric, the saber rattling and other distractions going on right now are bullshit. It needs to stop. … We need leadership, not rhetoric.”
