Arizona joins Nevada in lawsuit to stop federal Colorado River cuts

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona is teaming up with another Southwestern state to take the federal government to court over the Colorado River Cuts.

Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) said Friday they are joining a lawsuit that Nevada has filed against the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The lawsuit demands the feds force Upper Basin states — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — to send their promised water to Lake Mead, instead of letting Lower Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada — absorb cuts of up to 3 million acre-feet a year.

“I think that primarily we want to make sure that we have a seat at the table,” Hobbs told Arizona’s Family on Friday.

Of the total, Arizona was hit hardest, losing 760,000 acre-feet — nearly 250 billion gallons — per year for the next two years.

The Lower Basin Agreement, also called the Lower Basin Proposal, was a deal reached in May between Arizona, California and Nevada that would conserve an additional 3.2 million-plus acre-feet of water through 2028.

“It will protect this Lower Basin agreement, but also it pushes back on the parts of the Record of Decision that we don’t like,” said Hobbs of the action taken.

Without it, Hobbs said the Central Arizona Project (CAP), which delivers water to the Phoenix and Tucson areas, would be forced to slash its Colorado River allocation over the next two years.

“What we are faced with in the absence of this Lower Basin deal was a 77% cut to Arizona’s Colorado River water. That is, would be devastating,” Hobbs said. “We knew we had to take some cuts, and we’ve been working with all of the Colorado River users to talk about how these cuts can be implemented.”

ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke said joining the lawsuit protects Arizona’s legal rights while still leaving room for a negotiated outcome with California and Nevada.

Last August, the Department of the Interior did not adopt the Lower Basin Agreement and released its conservation plan, under which Arizona will take a cut of about 30% of its overall water allocation from the Colorado River. The Central Arizona Project (CAP), which delivers water to the Phoenix and Tucson areas, will take a 50% cut.

Nevada and California also have to take cuts, but Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming don’t have to give up any water.

State leaders at the time said Arizona avoided a worst-case scenario that had threatened the state with the steepest water cuts in its history, but it still wasn’t a good deal.

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