Seven American states whose water supply depends on the Colorado River, which has been overexploited for decades, missed the deadline on Tuesday to agree on a reduction in their consumption.
Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming had until January 31 to reach an agreement or face cuts from the federal government in Washington. .
In the American West, tens of millions of people depend on the Colorado River for their running water. It is a crucial resource for cities like Las Vegas or Los Angeles, as well as for the land of thousands of farmers.
But the reservoirs, which collect water from the river to redistribute it through a multitude of channels, are dangerously low after two decades of drought fueled by global warming.
Faced with this declining resource, six states submitted Monday to the federal agency responsible for sharing water a common plan to reduce their consumption.
The agreement includes limitations to “mitigate the risk” that the region’s two main reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, will dry up completely.
But California, with a very water-intensive agricultural sector that feeds a good part of the United States, is not a signatory to the text.
Negotiations are bogged down and this is the second time that the Group of Seven has missed a deadline set by Washington. This is starting to generate political friction.
“While many states have worked together to reach a deal that works for everyone, California refuses to do its part, and in some parts of the state it uses more water, not less,” said denounced on Tuesday Greg Stanton, elected Democrat from Arizona to the House of Representatives.
The federal government “must take action on this proposal resulting from a consensus” between the six other states, he insisted. “We can’t wait any longer.”
This plan “is a key step in the ongoing dialogue between the seven states, as we continue to seek a collaborative solution to stabilize the (sharing) system of the Colorado River,” said the director of the Department of Water Resources of Colorado. Arizona, Tom Buschatzke.
Contacted by AFP on Tuesday, California water policy officials did not respond.
