Arizona, other Colorado River Basin states face deadline on water sharing agreement

AZ, other states face water sharing deal deadline
The anxiety over Arizona's water supply is growing, as the state, along with others that rely on the Colorado River, have to come to an agreement by 2026. On June 17, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs attended a meeting to discuss where things stand currently. FOX 10's Ashlie Rodriguez has more.
PHOENIX - Anxiety over Arizona’s water supply is growing. Seven states that rely on the Colorado River have to come to an agreement by next year.
On June 17, Governor Katie Hobbs met with the Arizona Reconsultation Committee to discuss the status of negotiations.
The backstory:
These seven states have to come to an agreement by June 2026, but they’re stuck in a stalemate.
It’s the upper basin versus the lower basin. The upper basin states are Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The lower basin is California, Nevada and Arizona. The upper basin doesn’t want to give up its water or reduce its use, but the lower basin is running out of water.
According to Gov. Hobbs, it’s a mixture of less rain, less runoff from the snowpack, drought conditions, and overuse. Now, water levels in Lake Mead are on the decline.
Dig deeper:
The Arizona Reconsultation Committee has floated a couple of ideas/
Arizona has millions of acre-feet of ground water that’s under-utilized. Agriculture used 80% of the Colorado River water, so agriculture needs to step up and be part of the solution. Also, the upper and lower basin need to figure out what can they can do to lease, transfer, exchange water across state lines.
For the last 10 years, the Governor says Arizona has done its part to conserve, saving around 81 feet of water in Lake Mead. Now, they want the upper basin states to come to the table, and make some compromises as well.
What they're saying:
"There’s a lot less water in the Colorado system than people thought there was going to be 100 years ago, or 50 years ago, or 10 years ago. That’s the new reality," said Scott Cameron from the U.S. Department of Interior. "There are real risks to both the lower basin states and the upper basin states, if we don’t collectively do something differently than we’ve done in the past."
"We have already put real water on the table for our lower basin proposal, and we will make sure that our neighbors in the upper basin do not shirk their responsibilities when it comes to reducing their water use to protect the river," said Gov. Hobbs.
What's next:
The closer the deadline gets, the more likely the federal government is going to have to get involved and force a deal, and what these states agree on will have effects on the next 100 years to come.

Gov. Hobbs' Colorado River remarks
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs made remarks at the Arizona Reconsultation Committee (ARC) meeting on June 17, where stakeholders discussed Colorado River negotiations.