The Interior Department announced Friday that it would require these states, collectively known as the Lower Basin states, to reduce their water use by 1.25 million acre-feet per year in 2027 and 2028.
It encourages them to conserve and store an additional 700,000 acre-feet in total over the next two years.
That lines up with a plan put forward by the three states in which they suggested they could cut 1.25 million acre-feet over the same period.
The short-term guidelines follow the federal government’s recent announcement of a 10-year framework in which it said the states could be forced to cut as much as 3 million acre-feet per year.
State officials recoiled at the 3 million figure, with Arizona and Nevada officials saying cuts that steep could devastate local economies. Interior has said that the 10-year plan is meant to be flexible and responsive to whatever the water conditions may be down the road — meaning the states may never actually see cuts that are that steep.
The department also said Friday that it was finalizing its 10-year framework decision that includes the potentially steeper water cuts.
Read more at TheHill.com.
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