A Nevada congresswoman warned this week that those negotiating new agreements for use of the Colorado River system faced “crunch time,” amid ongoing drought and poor runoff conditions.
Why It Matters
Lake Mead, capable of storing about 29 million acre-feet of water, supplies drinking water to tens of millions of people. The reservoir, along with upstream Lake Powell, hit historic lows in 2022.
Negotiations have been going on to draft new operating rules for the reservoirs, which are the nation’s largest. The current rules expire next year.
What To Know
“It’s crunch time for the negotiators,” said Democratic Representative Susie Lee of Nevada on Thursday at the Southern Nevada Water Summit which she has convened, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
“There’s a lot of places where I don’t see eye-to-eye with this current administration, but we do agree on this much: The best path forward for the Colorado River system is one that is jointly chartered and agreed upon by the basin states and the tribes, not one that is imposed upon us living in the West by Washington, D.C.”…