California says it was left out of Colorado River water talks
Download mp3 (9.54 MB)Earlier this year, six of the seven Colorado River basin states signed off on a proposal to use less of that water. California was not one of those states.
The proposal submitted to the Bureau of Reclamation would return 3 million acre feet of water to Lake Mead over the next two years. These acre feet would balance out the loss of water to evaporation.
The letter was signed by officials from Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah and Nevada. The water managers who penned it referred to the letter as “consensus-based” despite the fact that California had not signed on. California water officials later submitted a competing plan that called for conservation over replenishing reservoirs.
Now, those officials from California say they weren’t consulted on the plan the six other states agreed to — one of many disagreements over the future of the Colorado River.
With The Show to talk more about this is Alex Hager, who overs the Colorado River Basin for KUNC in Colorado.
