California, Arizona and Nevada will take less water from the Colorado in return for at least $1 billion in federal funds

Lake Mead (Photo by Matthew Reamer, The New York Times)

"The Biden administration has negotiated a hard-fought agreement among California, Arizona and Nevada to take less water from the drought-strained Colorado River," reports Christopher Flavelle of The New York Times, noting that the deal "reduces, for now, the risk of the river running dry below the Hoover Dam, which would jeopardize the water supply for Phoenix, Los Angeles and some of America’s most productive agricultural land."

The states along river, also vital source of hydroelectric power, reached an agreement with the administration Monday "to conserve an unprecedented amount of their water supply in exchange for about $1 billion in federal funding, according to people familiar with the situation," reports Joshua Partlow of The Washington Post, who reported the outlines of the deal last week. The money would go to states, cities and Native Amerian tribes.

"California, Arizona, and Nevada have agreed to voluntarily conserve 3 million acre-feet of water over the next three years, which amounts to 13 percent of these states’ total allocation from the river," Patrlow reports. "The Biden administration has committed to compensating the states for three quarters of the water savings — or 2.3 million acre-feet — which would amount to at least $1 to $1.2 billion in federal funds, the people familiar with the talks said. The money from the Inflation Reduction Act would pay farmers and others who voluntarily forego their supplies."

Flavelle reports, "The agreement struck over the weekend runs only through the end of 2026, and still needs to be formally adopted by the federal government. At that point, all seven states that rely on the river — which include Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — could face a deeper reckoning, as its decline is likely to continue."