Amidst drought, Colo. River standoff flares

RIVERTON — Some Colorado River Basin states appear to be bracing for litigation as the deadline for a plan all seven states can agree to looms – with no agreement reached.

Meanwhile, the snowpack situation across its various tributaries paints a bleak picture for the coming summer. While there is snow in the Wind River Mountains that feed the Green River – the Colorado's largest tributary – most of the region is experiencing a significant snow drought. That likely means more reliance on the water coming out of Wyoming.

Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation called representatives from all seven Colorado River states – Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California – to Washington, D.C., for a meeting to try to come to some kind of accord.

Aside from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the governors of each state attended alongside their respective water experts.

"I'm pleased to report small positive movements forward in the meeting. But we're not out of the woods," Gov. Mark Gordon explained in his State of the State address Monday.

Last week, the Colorado Sun reported that some of its sources are saying that six out of seven Colorado River Basin states are close to a possible agreement, with Arizona as the remaining holdout, while others said that there are still no firm agreements in place.

Often referred to simply as the Law of the River, the Colorado River Compact and other various agreements, court cases, and legal documents have governed who gets how much water for over a century. While there are a number of stakeholders, water allocation is generally split between Upper Basin states (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico), Lower Basin states (Arizona, Nevada, and California), and Mexico. 

With the current agreement set to expire in August, the two basins have been trying to find a compromise that everyone can agree on – and have already blown through a major deadline.

The Colorado River, Gordon said, has been over-appropriated for decades. As of Monday, he observed, the river system was facing less than 52% of its normal snowpack.

"As Wyoming approaches 30 years of drought, we all know we have a significant water crisis on our hands. From the Snake, the Tongue, the North Platte, the Colorado, Wyoming faces growing demands and greater scrutiny on our water," Gordon commented.

Upper Basin states are strongly opposed to mandatory water use cuts for water rights holders during dry years, arguing instead for voluntary cuts only for water users in their states. Lower Basin states are already subject to mandatory cuts during dry years, and have argued that these cuts should be shared across all seven states within the compact.

Water usage is calculated differently for the upper and lower basins, although each group of states is entitled to the same amount of water each year: 7.5 million acre-feet. Even though demand for water has grown in the Upper Basin over the past several years, those states have still never come close to using their total allocation. The Upper Basin is required to release a 10-year rolling average of 75 million acre-feet of water to the Lower Basin, in addition to meeting requirements for water that is allocated to Mexico, and has consistently met this requirement.

In 2025, Lower Basin mandatory water allocation cuts led to a loss of 512,000 acre feet for Arizona alone. 

"We've done the heavy lifting for the last decade-plus," Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke said in late January.

The Bureau of Reclamation put forward a draft plan earlier this year, and appears to be poised to move forward with that plan if the states miss the February 14 deadline. 

But some officials in Lower Basin states seem to feel that the draft plan favors Upper Basin states. 

Meanwhile, Wyoming State Engineer Brandon Gebhart has already warned that Lake Powell will likely need extra releases of water from upstream in order to shore up its water levels this summer – and that Flaming Gorge Reservoir will likely be called upon to provide that extra water.

In his State of the State address, Gordon emphasized the importance of passing a budget that includes the full requested amount of funding for the State Engineer's Office as well as additional funds for contract services through the Attorney General's Office.

"Wyoming is faced with more significant legal threats and engineering challenges," Gordon said. "We need to continue to vigorously defend new, Wyoming-friendly, more sensible policies from attack. We're outmanned and outgunned by virtually every other state on the Colorado River."

Like the governors in other states on the river system, Gordon appears to be preparing for potential water system changes, litigation, or both.

This Saturday, February 14, is the deadline for the states to come to some sort of broad agreement.