Lake Mead water deals reached with entities in California
The Biden administration has reached agreements with several agencies in California to conserve more of the Colorado River water stored at Lake Mead through 2025.
The agreements, announced at an event Wednesday at Paris Las Vegas, call for the agencies to conserve a combined total of 643,000 acre-feet of water over the next two years. An acre-foot — the amount of water needed to cover an acre of land in a foot of water — is roughly enough water to supply two to three homes for a year.
The federal government agreed to invest about $295 million in water conservation and environmental protection projects.
“Addressing the drought crisis requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and close collaboration among federal, state, tribal and local communities,” Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said in a press release. “When we work together, we can find solutions to meet the challenges of these unprecedented drought conditions.”
The agencies include the Imperial Irrigation District, the Coachella Valley Water District, the Quechan Indian Tribe, the Palo Verde Irrigation District, the Bard Water District and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
The agreements are part of the ongoing efforts by the U.S. government and entities across the western United States to conserve the resources of the seriously taxed Colorado River.
This past spring, Nevada, California and Arizona unveiled a collective plan to conserve 3 million acre-feet of water by 2026. A spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority said in October that the three states had already saved 1 million acre-feet.
In August, the Bureau of Reclamation reported that Lake Mead’s water level would end this year more than 20 feet higher than it was in early January, and that next year’s water cuts for Nevada, Arizona and Mexico would be eased slightly from this year’s cuts.
But the bureau made more dire predictions in November, when it said Lake Mead’s water levels could reach 1,040.77 feet in September 2025, close to the record low of 1,040.58 feet reached in July 2022.
Contact Paul Pearson at ppearson@reviewjournal.com.