{"id":1291,"date":"2026-06-06T04:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1291"},"modified":"2026-06-06T04:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T04:06:08","slug":"federal-colorado-river-managers-will-impose-a-10-year-plan-requiring-state-negotiations-every-2-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=1291","title":{"rendered":"Federal Colorado River managers will impose a 10-year plan, requiring state negotiations every 2 years"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lacking agreement from the seven Colorado River states, federal managers of the critical waterway are planning to implement a framework for its future that will require a renegotiation every two years as the basin faces unprecedented water supply uncertainty.<\/p>\n

Read more Broncos OLB Jonathon Cooper and girlfriend arrested on domestic violence charges<\/a><\/p>\n

Scott Cameron, the acting commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, outlined the concept Thursday afternoon at an annual conference for Colorado River professionals hosted by the University of Colorado Boulder. It was the first time federal leaders had publicly discussed their final management scheme for the river.<\/p>\n

The plan to renegotiate every two years will give the river\u2019s leaders flexibility to adapt to shifting water supplies, he said.<\/p>\n

For more than two years, negotiators for the seven basin states have failed to agree on how the river should be managed and shared for the coming decades, as drought and overuse shrink water supplies. Without a state consensus, Reclamation officials will implement their own plan \u2014 though all parties agree that a seven-state plan is the ideal outcome for the basin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I could tell you that we have a solution,\u201d Cameron told the crowd in Boulder, which included several of the state negotiators. \u201cAs you are very painfully aware, we do not have a solution, at least at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal officials have proposed several potential plans that they thought the states would accept, but those have been rejected each time, Cameron said. Federal officials have repeatedly met with the state negotiators to hammer out a deal, including a meeting in Washington, D.C., between Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and six of the seven governors of the basin states.<\/p>\n

But the states \u2014 Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, California and Nevada \u2014 thus far have not agreed on a long-term plan for the river.<\/p>\n

Or, as Cameron noted, even a two-year plan.<\/p>\n

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Hopes for a plan that would last for decades have been dashed, though Cameron said federal leaders would accept a seven-state plan at any time in the coming years. Bureau of Reclamation leaders plan to publish their plan for the next two years by midsummer so that it can be finalized before the Oct. 1 start of the next water year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like we can just keep talking indefinitely,\u201d Cameron said, later noting that 40 million people across the basin are looking to river managers to find a way forward.<\/p>\n

Reclamation\u2019s 10-year framework will require nearly continuous negotiations between the seven states \u2014 a prospect that at least two of the negotiators from different sides of the basin are not thrilled about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe constant renegotiation every two years is difficult to fathom,\u201d Colorado\u2019s negotiator, Becky Mitchell, said Friday morning at the same conference in Boulder.<\/p>\n

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Constant flux creates uncertainty and makes it difficult to plan funding for basin projects.<\/p>\n

Read more Buffs rebuilt, reloaded on defense after disappointing 2025 season<\/a><\/p>\n

John Entsminger, the negotiator for Nevada, echoed her sentiment, stating that the two-year framework was \u201cnot the best plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

A seven-state plan is still possible, Mitchell said, and would eliminate the potential for litigation over the federal plan that could destabilize the region for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve kicked the can down the road long enough,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of cans, there\u2019s a lot of lobbyists, there\u2019s a lot of theories. And if we don\u2019t solve this, there are going to be a lot of high-paid lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Litigation would be grinding and last decades, handing the future of the river to judges or Congress, Entsminger said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarching into the Supreme Court is an abdication of our responsibility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The uncertainty over management plans comes as the river system comes closer to crashing than at any time in modern history.<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday, Lake Powell was 24% full and Lake Mead sat at 29% full, .<\/p>\n

A new water supply forecast released this week estimated that the amount of water that will reach Lake Powell during the spring runoff season, between April and July, will be 15% of the average recorded between 1991 and 2020.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the lowest level on record, according to .<\/p>\n

To keep water levels from falling below the intakes for Glen Canyon Dam\u2019s hydropower plant, federal officials last month began sending up to 1 million acre-feet of water downstream to Lake Powell over the next year from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming and Utah.<\/p>\n

But upstream reservoirs do not hold enough water to solve the basin\u2019s shortage, Cameron said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like you can send a million acres down, year after year after year,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are stopgap measures that we\u2019re trying to use in our critical \u2014 hopefully short-term \u2014 situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Denver\u2019s Montbello Recreation Center to reopen Monday following deadly shooting<\/a><\/p>\n

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is planning to implement a framework for the Colorado River that requires renegotiating its management every two years. 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