Click the link to read the release on the Department of Interior website:
November 20, 2024
Investments from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda have staved off crisis in the Colorado River Basin
Alternatives released today lay out necessary steps towards consensus agreement for post-2026 operations
Since Day One of the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of the Interior has led critical discussions over how to bring the Colorado River back from the brink of crisis in the face of a 24-year drought. Having achieved overwhelming success in 2023 on interim operation plans to guide operations through 2026 with a historic consensus agreement, and following more than a year of collaboration with the states and Tribes who call the Colorado River Basin home, the Biden-Harris administration today released the next step in a responsible path to guide post-2026 operations for the Colorado River.
Today, the Department released five proposed alternatives that will be analyzed as part of the Post-2026 Operations for the Colorado River. These alternatives represent a wide range of actions that respond to a broad spectrum of hydrology for the Colorado River Basin and reflect elements from proposals submitted by Basin states, Tribes, cooperating agencies and non-governmental organizations, as well as ongoing conversations and collaborations with all Basin stakeholders. As Basin partners continue to work towards a consensus agreement, the range of alternatives provides the framework for a realistic and fair path to meet the goals and needs of the communities and users that rely on this important and diminishing water source. This range includes a “Basin Hybrid Alternative,” that is designed to reflect components from the proposals and concepts submitted by the Upper Division States, Lower Division States, and Tribal Nations to present elements that could provide a basis for coordinated operations and may facilitate greater agreement across the Basin. All five alternatives will be formally analyzed to ensure the long-term stability of the Colorado River Basin for all of the communities and habitats that rely on it.
“With historic investments from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the Department of the Interior has successfully fostered an unprecedented level of collaboration and partnerships with Colorado River Basin states and Tribes,” said Acting Deputy Secretary Laura Daniel-Davis. “We continue to support and encourage all partners as they work toward another consensus agreement that will both protect the long-term stability of the Colorado River Basin and meet the needs of all communities. The alternatives we have put forth today establish a robust and fair framework for a Basin-wide agreement. As this process moves forward, the Biden-Harris administration has laid the foundation to ensure that these future guidelines and strategies can withstand any uncertainty ahead, and ultimately provide greater stability to the 40 million water users and the public throughout the Colorado River Basin.”
“In the face of a climate change-fueled megadrought, communities and ecosystems in the Colorado River Basin need both near-term and long-term solutions to ensure the stability of this precious resource for generations to come,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. “Over the past four years, thanks to the resources from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda and our Administration’s efforts to work with states and Tribes, the future of the Colorado River Basin is much brighter. The alternatives released today will help support ongoing efforts for all Basin partners to reach consensus on a sustainable path forward that will help ensure that Colorado River Basin communities are healthy and thriving, now and into the future.”
“As the West continues to face drought conditions, now is the time for more investment, innovation and collaboration for urgent and essential progress across the Colorado River Basin. The river is one of our nation’s most invaluable natural resources – providing clean water, hydropower and habitat for more than 40 million people, 30 Tribal Nations, and a wide diversity of species. When the Basin was on the brink of collapse, the Biden-Harris administration helped bring it back – thanks to historic investments from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda,” said White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi. “Those efforts helped stabilize the Colorado River for the short-term – but now, we owe it to future generations to find long-term solutions that ensure the river’s continued stability. Harnessing the best-available science, the Administration today continues to lead the Basin to stability by offering a framework that will build a more sustainable and equitable future for communities across the West. We continue to encourage all Basin partners to find a consensus agreement that meets the needs of all the river’s users.”
Over the last three years, the Biden-Harris administration has led a comprehensive effort to make Western communities more resilient to climate change and address the ongoing megadrought across the region by harnessing the full resources of President Biden’s historic Investing in America agenda. As climate change has accelerated over the past two decades, the Colorado River Basin experienced the driest period in the region in over one thousand years. Together, the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provide the largest investment in climate resilience in our nation’s history, including $15.4 billion for western water across federal agencies to enhance the West’s resilience to drought and deliver unprecedented resources to protect the Colorado River System for all whose lives and livelihoods depend on it. This includes $5.35 billion for over 577 projects in the Colorado River Basin states alone.
In June 2023, the Department initiated the formal process to develop future operating guidelines and strategies to protect the stability and sustainability of the Colorado River for future generations. The release of the proposed alternatives sets the basin on a course that allows for timely development of final operating guidelines. This is a step that must be taken by August 2026 to inform future operations – the existing guidelines expire in December 2026. Today’s announcement comes as Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton convenes the ninth Federal–Tribal–State forum, an unprecedented working group created under Secretary Haaland’s leadership to bring the seven Basin states and 30 Tribes together to regularly discuss the shape and substance of post-2026 operations.
“We have worked tirelessly over the past several years to bring Colorado River Basin stakeholders together for a transparent and inclusive post-2026 process that has fostered collaboration and compromise. Importantly, we have also put Tribal governments at the table for the first time in history,” said Commissioner Touton. “Today, we show our collective work. These alternatives represent a responsible range from which to build the best and most robust path forward for the Basin. I have confidence in our partners and the Reclamation team in continuing this work to meet the needs of the river for the future.”
Addressing the Short-Term Crisis
The lifeblood of the American West, the Colorado River Basin provides water for more than 40 million people and fuels hydropower resources in seven U.S. states. It is a crucial resource for 30 Tribal Nations and two states in Mexico, and it supports 5.5 million acres of agriculture and agricultural communities across the West, in addition to important ecosystems and endangered species. In 2021, historic drought along the river brought the communities it serves to a near crisis. This megadrought diminished the river’s largest reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — to critically low elevations. Ravaged by the climate crisis, extreme drought, and unsustainable water use, this vital artery was drained to perilous lows, jeopardizing agriculture, urban areas, and ecosystems.
To provide decisive intervention and bold action, the Biden-Harris administration launched an all-of-government approach to address the short-term risk and set the stage for the development of long-term solutions to help avoid a similar crisis in the future. By collaborating with states, Tribes, federal partners and interested stakeholders – the Department paired innovative investments through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda with operational strategies to address water shortages and promote sustainable management. The consensus agreement for near-term operations, announced in 2023, stabilized the system in the short-term, as the Department embarked on the broader effort to address long-term conservation needs. Today, Lake Mead is replenished, up nearly 20 feet from two years ago, and Lake Powell has rebounded 50 feet. The lower Basin states and the Country of Mexico are on track to save 1.6 million acre-feet by the end of 2024, an unprecedented level of conservation for the Colorado River Basin.
President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda
President Biden’s Investing in America agenda represents the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history and is providing much-needed resources to enhance Western communities’ resilience to drought and climate change. Reclamation is leveraging nearly $13 billion in critical investments across the west through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act.
These funds have helped the federal government secure a series of historic water conservation agreements across the Basin states, while investing in state-of-the-art upgrades to the West’s aging water infrastructure, including innovative projects that support water distribution structures, water storage capacity, advanced metering infrastructure, canal lining, farm efficiency improvements, recycling and desalinating water, and more. These investments have been essential in reducing water demand through voluntary water conservation incentives, while also investing in infrastructure upgrades and long-term strategies to maximize water resources.
Charting a Path Forward
The post-2026 process is a multi-year effort to identify a range of alternatives and ultimately determine operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead and other water management actions in a future of persistent drought and increasing climate variability. These operations will be critical in defining water allocations for cities and agriculture, guiding future management, and guarding against the need for the kind of short-term fix the Biden-Harris administration successfully negotiated and completed earlier this year.
Guided by the lessons learned and best practices developed through the Department’s short-term effort and using the best-available science, Reclamation analyzed how future operational guidelines and strategies can be sufficiently robust and adaptive to withstand a broad range of hydrological conditions and ultimately provide greater stability to water users and the public throughout the Colorado River Basin.
In addition to public comment, virtual seminars, frequent meetings with the Basin states and the Federal-Tribal-State forum, Reclamation has conducted 30 nation-to-nation consultations and held 40 Tribal Information Exchanges to ensure ongoing dialogue and information sharing. To date, Department staff have visited and met with each Basin state Governor or designee and have visited more than half of the 30 Colorado River Tribes on their own land – a demonstration of the Administration’s commitment to meaningful nation-to-nation engagement.
Reclamation will now analyze these alternatives to develop a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Once published, the draft EIS will include a public comment period. This puts Reclamation on a path to publish a final EIS, which would then be followed by a Record of Decision in 2026.
While the post-2026 process will determine domestic operations, the Biden-Harris administration has collaborated with the Country of Mexico in recognition of their equities in the Basin. The International Boundary and Water Commission will continue to facilitate consultations between the United States and Mexico on Binational Cooperative Processes under the 1944 Water Treaty.
Click the link to read the “Post-2026 Colorado River Reservoir Operational Strategies for Lake Powell and Lake Mead: Narrative of National Environmental Policy Act Alternatives“
Approach to Alternative Development
- Features of all action alternatives will ensure a broad range of alternatives for analysis. Reclamation’s goal for the post-2026 process is to allow for the adoption of specific guidelines for the coordinated reservoir management of Lake Powell and Lake Mead through their full operating range and to provide for the sustainable management of the Colorado River system and its resources under a wide range of potential future system and hydrologic conditions.
- An operating plan must be in place by August 2026. We are sharing the five alternatives now as a voluntary step in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process to enhance transparency and create a framework for a realistic and fair path for Colorado River Basin states, Tribes, and non-governmental organizations to continue to work toward a consensus agreement that protects the stability and sustainability of the Colorado River System into the future.
- Releasing the alternatives in advance of publishing the draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) affords the public and affected water users more information about the process and provides greater opportunities for collaboration, to ensure that we have a plan in place before the current guidelines expire.
Concepts Common to All Alternatives
- All alternatives will undergo a detailed analysis of impacts on the natural and human environment as necessary to develop a Draft EIS. The analysis will also compare the performance of alternatives over a common set of key hydrologic metrics including reservoir elevations, water use and reductions, and deviations from Glen Canyon objective releases, pursuant to the Long Range Operating Criteria (LROC).
- Releases from Lake Powell may be less than the specified release below elevation 3,490 ft due to Glen Canyon Dam infrastructure limitations.
- Additional Lower Basin shortages (and potential additional reductions in water deliveries to Mexico) may be necessary under future hydrologic scenarios where Lake Mead reaches dead pool.
- As in the 2001 and 2007 Guidelines, the Secretary retains all applicable authority to respond to exigent and emergency conditions.
- The determination of deliveries to Mexico is not a part of the proposed federal action. Any such determination would be made in accordance with the 1944 Treaty. Nevertheless, modeling assumptions with respect to the distribution of shortages for the Lower Division States include operationally aligned water delivery reductions to Mexico in order to analyze potential impacts to hydrologic and other environmental resources. Shortage amounts described are amounts of total shortage, including Mexico. Modeling assumptions that identify water deliveries to Mexico pursuant to the 1944 Treaty with Mexico would be developed after all necessary and appropriate discussions have been completed with the United States International Boundary and Water Commission in consultation with the Department of State.
Description of Alternatives
No Action
- The No Action does not meet the purpose of and need for the federal action, but it is included as a requirement of NEPA.
- Operations would revert to annual determinations announced through the Annual Operating Plan (AOP) process.
- Lake Powell release would be 8.23 maf unless a higher release is required for equalization or a lower release results from Glen Canyon Dam infrastructure limitations.
- Shortages to the Lower Basin would be based on priority and reach a maximum of 600 kaf.
- This would not represent a continuation of current operations but is generally based on the preexisting operating guidance that was in place before the adoption of the 2007 Interim Guidelines Record of Decision (ROD), and thus includes no specific activities above Lake Powell beyond existing authorities (e.g., to make emergency releases from Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) Initial Units to protect infrastructure at Glen Canyon Dam).
- Existing Intentionally Created Surplus (ICS) would be delivered in accordance with existing agreements, but there would be no new delivery and storage mechanisms.
Alternative 1: Federal Authorities
- This alternative is designed to achieve robust protection of critical infrastructure within the Department and Reclamation’s current statutory authorities and absent new stakeholder agreements.
- Lake Powell releases would be determined based on Lake Powell elevations, unless equalization releases are required. Lake Powell releases would range from 9.5 to 5.0 maf. Releases could be less than 5.0 maf, and Lake Powell elevations could be increased by CRSP Initial Units, to protect infrastructure at Glen Canyon Dam.
- Lower Basin shortages of up to 3.5 maf would be distributed consistent with the priority system and would be triggered based on combined storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
- Existing ICS (Intentionally Created Surplus) would be delivered in accordance with existing agreements, but there would be no new delivery and storage mechanisms.
- There would be explicit accounting of unused/undeveloped quantified Tribal water
Alternative 2: Federal Authorities Hybrid
- This alternative is designed based on proposals and concepts from Tribal Nations, federal agencies, and other stakeholders to achieve robust protection of critical infrastructure while benefiting key resources (e.g., natural, hydropower and recreation) through a new approach to distributing storage between Lake Powell and Lake Mead that enhances the reservoirs’ ability to support the Basin.
- Lake Powell releases would be determined based on a combination of Lake Powell and Lake Mead elevations, 10-year running-average hydrology, and Lower Basin deliveries. Lake Powell elevations could be increased by releases from CRSP Initial Units to protect infrastructure at Glen Canyon Dam.
- This alternative would include new delivery and storage mechanisms for Lake Powell and Lake Mead with federal and non-federal storage pools and maximum flexibilities for all users. The operations incorporate Basin-wide shared contributions to the sustainability of the system, including Upper Basin conservation that would be stored in Lake Powell and Lower Basin shortages starting at 1.5 maf, which exceeds average annual evaporative and system losses at and below Lake Mead, and reaching a maximum of 3.5 maf.
- Shortages would be triggered based on combined storage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead and distributed pro-rata.
- There would be explicit accounting of unused/undeveloped quantified Tribal water.
- Some elements of this alternative would require additional federal statutory authorities and stakeholder agreements.
Alternative 3: Cooperative Conservation
- This alternative is informed by a proposal submitted by a consortium of conservation organizations with the goal of stabilizing system storage, integrating stewardship and mitigation strategies of Lakes Powell and Mead, maintaining opportunities for binational cooperative measures, incentivizing water conservation, and designing flexible water management strategies.
- Lake Powell releases would range from 11.0 maf to 5.0 maf and would be determined by total Upper Basin system storage and recent hydrology. Releases would switch to “run-of-river” when Lake Powell is at 3,510 ft or lower. The operations incorporate Basin-wide shared contributions to sustain system integrity, including up to 4.0 maf of shortages in the Lower Basin triggered by combined seven-reservoir storage and recent hydrology, and voluntary water contributions from both basins.
- Some elements of this alternative would require additional federal authorities and stakeholder agreements.
Alternative 4: Basin Hybrid
- This alternative is designed to reflect components from the proposals and concepts submitted by the Upper Division States, Lower Division States, and Tribal Nations to present elements that could provide a basis for coordinated operations and may facilitate greater agreement across the Basin.
- Lake Powell releases would be determined primarily based on Lake Powell elevation with consideration in some scenarios of Lake Mead elevation. Releases would range from 12.0 to 5.0 maf. Lake Powell elevations could be increased by releases from CRSP Initial Units to protect infrastructure at Glen Canyon Dam.
- This alternative would include new delivery and storage mechanisms for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, including incentivizing conservation and managing/offsetting reductions, to afford the Tribal and non-Tribal entities the same ability to use these mechanisms. The operations incorporate Basin-wide shared contributions, including Upper Basin conservation that would be stored in Lake Powell and up to 2.1 maf of Lower Basin shortages triggered by combined seven reservoir storage.
- This alternative would analyze shortage distribution using two approaches: priority and pro-rata, both of which would be analyzed with and without shortages to Tribes.
- There would be explicit accounting of unused/undeveloped quantified Tribal water.
- Some elements of this alternative would require additional federal authorities and stakeholder
agreements.
