SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — The U.S. Department of the Interior announced that it has finalized plans for the 2027-2028 Colorado River Operations, and Utah is not one of the states seeing major water cuts.
According to a press release from the department, it has issued the 2027-2028 Operating Guidelines and the Record of Decision for the Post-2026 Colorado River Operations Final EIS, which will establish a 10-year Decision Framework.
These decisions will inform future operational guidelines for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, which the department says have “not been this low since before Lake Powell began filling following the closure of the gates at Glen Canyon Dam in 1963.” Both lakes have hit record lows in recent weeks.
Utah spared from major Colorado River cuts while Lake Powell, Lake Mead get new federal management plan
“We are grateful for the Seven Basin States, the thirty Basin Tribes, Mexico, and many other basin stakeholders who have provided the feedback and voluntary arrangements necessary for the development of the 2027-2028 Operating Guidelines.” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum is quoted as saying. “Forty million people, millions of acres of farmland and ranchland, industries that power the American West, and some of our nation’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas depend on the Colorado River.”…