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Commissioner Brenda Burman: The Promise of the DCP
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together with Mexico to immediately and simultaneously save water in both countries. They are doing that because the Colorado River is experiencing a historic drought. The 19-year period from 2000 to 2018 was the driest in our recorded history, which goes back over 100 years. It’s also one of the driest periods in the paleo record, looking back over 1,200 years. Working with the states, we all recognized that there was too high a risk of us losing the system and of there being severe repercussions in the Southwest if actions were not taken. The basin states came together with the U.S. Department of the Interior to design voluntary actions that could reduce this risk and allow everyone to move forward with coordinated and dependable actions to protect the system.
Kris Polly: Please explain the DCP and its significance.
Kris Polly: With the passage of the DCP legislation, what are the next steps?
Brenda Burman: The finalization of the DCP for the upper and lower basin states of the Colorado River is an incredible feat. The DCP isn’t just one agreement; it is a multifaceted set of actions and agreements by those seven states and Mexico to move forward to address significant risks on the Colorado River system. The states have come
6 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
Brenda Burman: It took us several years of negotiations with Mexico and with the states to get this far, and it wasn’t easy. The states and major water users had to be able to go home and argue that there should be more water savings and more water maintained behind Lake Powell and Lake
PHOTO COURTESY OF BUREAU OF RECLAMATION.
n May 20, 2019, representatives of the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Reclamation, key water districts, and the seven Colorado River basin states gathered at the top of Hoover Dam to sign the Drought Contingency Plan (DCP), an ambitious agreement designed to reduce risk on the Colorado River and sustain the river system into the future. As the federal agency responsible for water management in the West, Reclamation played a pivotal role in helping to facilitate the development and successful passage of the DCP at the federal level. In this interview, Brenda Burman, the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, speaks with Municipal Water Leader Editor-in-Chief Kris Polly about the process of developing the DCP and its promise for the future.
