Trump administration readying a plan to impose Colorado River water cuts on Western states

[Zorro]

After months of pressing Western states to come to their own agreement, the Trump administration told their leaders it’s drawing up a 10-year plan for dealing with water shortages on the Colorado River.

The river is a major water source for Southern California and much of the Southwest, but its largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, are severely depleted and their levels continue to drop.

News of the federal government’s preliminary plan surfaced Wednesday during a meeting in Phoenix. Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, said federal officials informed state water managers they are developing a “10-year framework” with specific rules requiring water reductions that would be reassessed every two years.

So far, negotiators for California, Arizona and Nevada have offered to use roughly 1.6 million acre-feet less annually over the next two years. But Buschatzke said the Trump administration’s plan would allow for mandatory cutbacks of up to 3 million acre-feet per year in the three states — as much as 40% of their combined allotments.

That’s nearly as much as all the water that flowed from 19 million people’s taps across Southern California last year.

https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2026-05-15/colorado-river-trump-administration

[Jacson6]

1. Yes, This has been a long identified problem.

I visited family in Phoenix a few years ago and the contractors were building thousands of houses. I simply asked where are they going to get the water from in a few years?

[CousinIT]

2. Put it off until it's a massive 10000x more expensive crisis instead of dealing with it. . . .

. . . when it appears on the radar years out.

It's the American Way. It's what we're doing w/ climate change, too, which is directly related to this and which the Trump Crime Syndicate calls a 'hoax' and refuses to deal with at all (because those causing it pay them too much not to).

[gab13by13]

3. Need to reserve the water for data centers.

[tanyev]

4. Wait, didn't his Jan 2025 executive order to open a "very large faucet" fix everything??

[thatdemguy]

5. I have lossely followed this for years, out of curiosity.

Its a screwed up situation for many years, from the start when they measured the flow even before the damn was built. They ( California ) for a long time got more water than their allotment when there was un used water. Then they got addicted to extra water and did not plan for low years with the building they did. As soon as the flow became and issue they were stuck needing more water. The compact allocated 4.4 mil acre feet but up until 2003 used over 5 mil. They did start to cut down in 2003, but had some years of good rain that cut the water needed from the Colorado.

Its going to be painful for all the states that get water, they are all gonna have to cut way down.