California defies Western neighbors, submits separate Colorado River rescue plan

Feb. 1 (UPI) -- California has submitted its own plan to cut shared water use from the fading Colorado River -- defying a proposed deal with the U.S. by six other Western states in an urgent race to save one of the nation's most critical natural resources.

California's proposal, sent to the Biden administration late Tuesday, calls for increasing cutbacks and prioritizing water supplies to align with standing goals to conserve tens of millions of gallons of water over each of the next three years.

The plan presented by California's Colorado River Board came one day after Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming delivered a separate framework to the Bureau of Reclamation, outlining ways to reduce flows from Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell and Hoover Dam at Lake Mead, where waters levels have plummeted to record lows in recent years.

"California's proposed framework seeks to protect Lake Mead elevation of 1,000 feet and Lake Powell elevation of 3,500 feet by modifying some parameters governing reservoir operations, maximizing the impact of existing plans and voluntary conservation actions, and increasing cutbacks if Lake Mead elevations decline," the California board said in a statement announcing its new framework. "It also protects baseline water needs of communities across the West by prioritizing water supplies for human health and safety."

The competing plans arose out of increased pressure from Washington, which recently threatened to step in with federal oversight if the adjoining states could not reach a new agreement to curtail the emerging crisis.

The Colorado River Board of California, which refused to sign on with the multi-state deal despite receiving the biggest share of water from the river basin, said its approach differs from the proposal by six other basin states and "conflicts with the existing Law of the River and the current water rights system and mandates cutback without providing tools to manage reductions."

The Golden State is calling for Arizona and other states to make bigger cuts -- arguing they don't hold the same rights to the reservoirs as California, whose dry southeast region is legally entitled to receive increased water supply for cattle and crops to feed the nation.

But countless farms and communities in multiple states throughout the West also depend on the river as a critical life source.

"California's water agencies remain committed to working with all Colorado River basin states to take urgent, fair, and achievable action now to avoid unacceptable risks to communities, farms and economies in California and the rest of the basin," the California board said in the statement.

The proposed deal by the unified states primarily targets California to make the biggest cuts and seeks to slash overall water use from the Colorado River by as much as 30% this year alone.

The unified plan also seeks to fix the river's crumbling infrastructure, replenish the drying reservoirs, and increase power generation throughout the region.

Previously, JB Hamby, who serves as the state's Colorado River commissioner, questioned whether the six-state plan was legal and on Tuesday said the collective effort would amount to "gutting California."

In a letter to the Reclamation Bureau on Tuesday, he described California's plan as a more viable path forward.

"The alternative provides a realistic and implementable framework to address reduced inflows and declining reservoir elevations by building on voluntary agreements and past collaborative efforts in order to minimize implementation delays," he wrote. "California's alternative protects critical elevations and uses adaptive management to protect critical reservoir elevations through the interim period."

For many decades, water use from the once-mighty Colorado River has been dictated by an agreement between all seven basin states, however, increased drought and allocation levels have caused more water to flow out of the tributary than come through it.

In June, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton informed the affected states that water use would need to be cut by as much as 4 million acre-feet per year to keep both lakes Mead and Powell from bottoming out, which would threaten the water supply to an unfathomable number of homes and businesses across the West.

Dwindling water supplies led the Interior Department to retain 480,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell in 2022.

Meanwhile, environmental officials have continued to warn that low water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead could soon reach critical levels as declining water levels due to climate change and 20 years of ongoing drought have reshaped both shorelines.

In 2021, Lake Mead dipped at least 26 feet and was only 19% of full capacity in late 2022 -- well below the federal government's predicted water level that would trigger the most severe water cuts for the Southwest.

The reservoirs could need to be completely emptied by 2024 if nothing is done.