SHORTAGE ON THE COLORADO THE LAW OF THE RIVER IN A CHANGING CLIMATE
by Sara Porterfield, Water Policy Associate – Trout Unlimited
INTRODUCTION
THE COLORADO RIVER COMPACT & HISTORICAL CONTEXT
If you look at the U.S. Drought Monitor map you can see a bullseye of extreme drought over the Colorado River Basin, the The seven states of the Colorado River headwaters of which drain from Colorado’s Basin—Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming—negotiated the Colorado River Compact in November of 1922. The states of the Upper Colorado River Basin – Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming - were concerned that fast-growing California would lay claim to the majority of the river’s water before the smaller population of the Upper Basin states would develop a demand for the water. Negotiated during a particularly wet period of time on the Colorado River, and ignoring evidence that the average annual flow was less than negotiators agreed upon, the Colorado River Compact requires the Western Slope. Drought, high wildfire risk, Upper Basin to deliver 7.5 million acre-feet and the potential for a shortage declaration of water annually on a ten-year running avin the Lower Colorado River Basin have erage to the Lower Basin, as well as half of all been making headlines lately. What is the 1.5 million acre-foot obligation to Mexa shortage declaration, exactly, and what ico. The understanding at the time was that does the likelihood of a shortage declaration the Upper Basin states would have available mean for Colorado and the Colorado River an approximately equal share of 7.5 million Basin? acre-feet annually. History has proven that this understanding was overly optimistic. The years since the signing of the Colo56
High Country Angler • Summer 2021
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