DAVID FOLKENFLIK, HOST:
For years, the water level of the Colorado River has been dwindling. Climate change and drought are part of the problem. So is heavy demand by cities and by farms. Seven states rely on the river. Today, the federal government finally announced which ones will need to cut back their water usage over the next two years. The cuts will come from Arizona, California and Nevada. Here to tell us more is KJZZ's Alex Hager in Phoenix. Hey, Alex.
ALEX HAGER, BYLINE: Thanks for having me.
FOLKENFLIK: So let's get to it. What have we learned from today's announcement?
HAGER: States spent years negotiating a new plan for sharing the river, but they could not agree on how to do it. So the federal government had to step in and decide for them. And today, we found out exactly how much water will get cut and who is going to get less. Arizona, California and Nevada will take about 20% less water from the river over the next two years. Arizona will shoulder the largest portion of those cuts.
The plan does not force cuts for the upstream states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico because the federal government doesn't think it has the authority to do that. The federal government built a lot of the dams and canals that move water in the downstream states, which is why they think they do have the legal power to make changes there.
FOLKENFLIK: What does that mean for the people who live in these states?
HAGER: The biggest impact from these cuts is going to fall on cities in the Phoenix and Tucson areas. But people who live here are not going to see their taps go dry. For example, cities around Phoenix get a lot of water from a giant canal that carries the Colorado River across the desert. But like any good investor, those cities have diverse portfolios. They also get water from underground. Some of it's naturally occurring. Some of it they have been storing there for this very moment. A lot of them get water from another nearby river. That's the Salt River. So when there's less Colorado River water coming in, they can just lean harder on those other sources to make up the difference.
However, it takes a lot of expensive new construction to get all of that water to the people who use it. So over time, people who live here will see their water bills keep going up. A lot of the experts I talked to say we're not running out of water, but we are running out of cheap water.
FOLKENFLIK: Well, you know, bills go up. How have the reaction (ph) been from the states that are going to see these big cuts?
HAGER: Yeah, the reaction has been mostly positive, but with an asterisk. The 20% cut is actually pretty welcome news for Arizona, California and Nevada. The federal government said it has the authority to cut their water up to 40%. Those states negotiated with the feds to avoid that worst case scenario. Arizona said that would be catastrophic for its people and economy. So this is a small sigh of relief. But these rules only last for two years, and those bigger cuts could be necessary by then.
FOLKENFLIK: So, if that only lasts for two years, sounds like we're kind of kicking the can down the road.
HAGER: Yeah, that's kind of right. Today's announcement is not a long-term solution. The Colorado River is in this mess because 26 years of drought and climate change have been sapping its water and people have not made huge cutbacks to demand accordingly. This is a long-term problem, and it needs a long-term solution. That would take even bigger cuts across a larger area. It would probably mean cutting into the large amount of water used on farms and ranches.
Right now, the main focus is on keeping enough water in the nation's two largest reservoirs. That's Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Those reservoirs can generate hydropower for millions of people across the West, and they both hit record low levels this month. So the priority is keeping those dams and reservoirs working somewhat normally for the next couple of years. Beyond that, the states that use the Colorado River are absolutely not out of the woods yet.
FOLKENFLIK: I've been speaking with KJZZ's Alex Hager. Alex, thanks so much.
HAGER: Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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