Western states finally agree to cut water use from the drought-stricken Colorado River. But the key to success will be long-term investment
last year, setting up the prospect for drastic water use cuts and inter-state showdowns over water rights. But a stroke of luck seems to have held off that eventuality for now, with an unusually wet winter replenishing snowpack in the mountains that supply the river’s water.
Now, with those states having avoided a true water reckoning—at least until the terms of the deal expire in 2026—it remains to be seen whether they’ll use the extra leeway to push forward long-term solutions. “We don’t want to overreact due to the conditions of any one wet or dry year,” Thomas Piechota, a professor of engineering and environmental science and policy at Chapman University,. “Our government leaders must work together, stay committed to the investments required to enhance infrastructure, and enable innovative solutions to our water future.”
Federal funds may be coming at a good time to help push things in a positive direction. The Biden Administration announcedof drought resilience measures last month, funded out of $15.4 billion set aside for such programs in the 2021 infrastructure law and last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. Those include a water pipeline to help recycle water into Lake Mead, and projects to create new groundwater storage systems in California and Utah.
That may not be nearly soon enough to avert more painful cuts in the short term. But with climate change squeezing western water supplies still further in the decades ahead, the long-term investments will likely be well worth it.
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