Seven States Send $50 Billion Wish List as Federal Deadline for Colorado River Cuts Nears

The Trump administration must set a schedule of Colorado River water-use restrictions by September after negotiations among seven Western states ended without agreement. The states have used more water than the river supplies for years, draining Lake Powell and Lake Mead during a two-decade drought.

Upper Basin states Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico remain at odds with Lower Basin states Arizona, California and Nevada over which side must cut usage first.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has not settled the dispute. The seven governors instead sent Washington a list of projects costing more than $50 billion. Interior Department water official Andrea Travnicek told a Senate committee last week that the agency has not yet reviewed the proposals and urged lawmakers to spend taxpayer money thoughtfully.

Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico said the basin should not choose between stabilizing current supplies and planning for the future. Funding from the Inflation Reduction Act that paid farmers to leave fields fallow in 2022 has nearly run out. Proposals include a $6 billion desalination plant in Baja California that would allow Arizona to draw less river water.

The Interior Department signed an agreement in early June with San Diego’s water agency on how such a plant could work. San Diego’s existing Poseidon Water plant, which opened in 2015 at a cost of $1 billion, already produces more water than the city needs.

Nevada requested $300 million to retrofit its largest natural gas plant and $650 million for zero-water cooling systems at airports, schools and industrial sites.