Editor’s note: Read more of Stateline’s coverage Learn how communities in the West are coping with droughts exacerbated by climate change.
Despite a major drought, Western states were able to avoid large cuts to their Colorado River water allocations this year. That’s not only because of unexpected storms, but also because of generous financial incentives from governments at all levels that encouraged people to conserve water.
A preliminary Colorado River water-sharing agreement announced in May by Arizona, California and Nevada relies on a $1.2 billion infusion from the federal government. Several of the river’s 30 tribal nations also receive federal funding. For example, the Gila River Indian Community is scheduled to receive $233 million from the federal government over the next three years, primarily to conserve water.
Buoyed by the Inflation Control Act and bipartisan infrastructure legislation, the federal government will collectively $15.4 billion Mainly large-scale projects for water storage and recycling, but also efforts towards drought recovery programs over the next few years to persuade people to use less water.
Water experts worry that paying people to save money is not a long-term solution. To keep the Colorado River alive, they say, states need to make long-term investments and rethink water-sharing agreements.
But in the meantime, the money is helping maintain river basins. Michael Cohen, a senior fellow at the Pacific Institute, a water think tank based in Oakland, Calif., said conservation efforts promoted by federal funding are helping the West, where 40 million people depend on Colorado River water, Seven states said they were spared painful water cuts. (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming make up the upper basin; Arizona, California, and Nevada make up the lower basin.)
It worked to motivate people. But the bigger question is whether they can reach the level of reduction needed to stabilize the system. And that remains to be seen.
– Michael Cohen, Senior Research Fellow, Pacific Institute
Cohen said the federal government has a long history of sending money during disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Drought is no exception.
“It’s very important,” Cohen said. “This is an example of the United States really taking the lead in making a case for offsetting or at least reducing demand on this highly stressed water system.”
For years, some states and local governments in the West have offered money to farmers not to irrigate their crops or to residents to tear up their lawns and install water-efficient equipment.
In Arizona, cities such as Gilbert and Scottsdale provide residents You can pay up to $800 and $5,000, respectively, to tear up your lawn. Peoria and Surprise will pay residents a few hundred dollars and encourage them to plant native desert plants and shrubs in their yards instead of grass.
For the past 20 years, Las Vegas has offered rebates to residents for tearing out their lawns and replacing them with plants suited to the desert climate. The effect was amazing.
In 2002, the city used more than 300,000 acre-feet of water per year. (An acre-foot is a common unit in the water industry and equals 326,000 gallons.) This year, thanks in large part to incentives, usage will be less than 200,000 gallons, said Pacific Research Institute’s Cohen. Told.
“It worked to motivate people,” he says. “But the bigger question is whether we can reach the level of reduction needed to stabilize the system. And that remains to be seen.”
Future Negotiations on Colorado River Water Sharing Agreement
The Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that manages the Colorado River Basin, is asking states for long-term proposals to conserve water in preparation for a drier future made worse by climate change.
The agency visited states last year and presented two options for protecting the Colorado River from the effects of a 20-year drought, the worst the region has seen in 1,200 years. One is to voluntarily reduce water usage and receive compensation, or two. The federal government will force fiat cuts.
Colorado River Agreement Means Deep Cuts and Difficult Negotiations
Under the agreement announced in May, the downstream states of Arizona, California and Nevada will reduce water use by 3 million acre-feet over the next three years. The region avoided disaster this year thanks to a particularly wet winter and recent summer storms that hit the Southwest. However, federal funding made it easier for these states to reach a deal.
George Frisvold, a professor of agricultural economics and policy at the University of Arizona, said this is just a short-term solution.
“They’re treading water, pardon the joke,” he said. “It’s going to be challenging.”
However, the broader conservation strategy for the region is subject to change. Frisvold said that in the coming years there will be more scrutiny of what the federal government gets out of the billions it spends. He added that more money to encourage conservation could start coming from provinces than from the federal government.
States are preparing to negotiate a long-term water-sharing agreement for the Colorado River starting in 2026. A key question is what role agriculture will play in conserving Colorado River water.
Money for agriculture, farmers saving money
Western agriculture, a major part of the region’s economy and a major contributor to the nation’s food supply, consumes more Colorado River water than any other user.
To conserve more water, farmers are using federal and local funds to build canals, install drip irrigation systems, and set aside areas of land to temporarily stop growing crops. did.
Mike Wade, executive director of the California Farm Water Coalition, a Sacramento-based nonprofit representing agricultural interests, said agricultural incentives are becoming more efficient in the West, in part due to financial incentives. Told.
He pointed to California’s Imperial Valley. There, Southern California’s urban water users have paid inland farmers for the past 20 years to transfer 500,000 acre-feet of their share of Colorado River water to cities.
“This is a win-win situation,” he said. “It’s not putting people out of business. We’re covering the cost of temporarily suspended operations to achieve Colorado River conservation savings.”
Wade argues this is a model for other Colorado River states, a way to avoid mandatory cuts that could threaten people’s livelihoods and instead invest in communities and businesses. But in the long term, he said, these investments must come from local governments.
These cities are working together to conserve water and are a model for the arid West.
But there is disagreement over whether paying farmers is the right way to go.
Mark Gold, director of water scarcity solutions at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said this is not a sustainable solution. The payments would give the Colorado River Basin access until 2026, when states must negotiate new terms for sharing water.
“It requires a completely different way of thinking,” he says. “Paying farmers to not farm is not an efficient or sustainable way to save money. [million] It reaches 4 million acre-feet of water per year. ”
He said this past wet winter gave him a two-year reprieve from having to make difficult decisions.
Going forward, the region needs to move beyond short-term incentives, said Katherine Wright, a researcher at the Real Estate and Environmental Research Center, a conservation nonprofit that emphasizes market-based solutions. Funding from the Inflation Control Act will eventually run out, she said, but the fundamental problem remains.
As populations continue to grow in southwestern cities, Wright believes there is a long-term solution. in a personal transaction For example, water allocations could be transferred between farmers and cities without federal funds.
“Cities need water, but cities don’t have water, so we need to do something in the short term. It’s unrealistic to change policy today,” she said. “More broadly, it’s a call to foster conversations between farmers, tribes, and cities: What can we do in the long term to address water scarcity?”
state line, Like the Idaho Capital Sun, it is part of State Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by a coalition of grants and donors as a 501c(3) public charity.follow the state line Facebook and twitter.
Get the morning headlines delivered to your inbox
