The Trump administration has ramped up pressure on the seven Colorado River basin states to agree on water cuts as reservoir levels fall and the risk of delivery and hydropower shortfalls grows. Interior officials set a Feb. 14 deadline to allow time for environmental review and legislative approval. A proposed five-year 'Phase 1' would ask lower-basin states to cut 1.5 million acre-feet, while upper-basin states would begin conservation programs; Lake Powell inflows were just 56% of average this year. Officials warn failure to compromise could trigger federal intervention and litigation.
Trump Administration Presses Seven States To Cut Colorado River Use As Reservoirs Near Crisis
LAS VEGAS — The Trump administration has intensified pressure on the seven states that share the Colorado River to reach a binding agreement to reduce water use as reservoir levels edge toward crisis.
Federal Urgency And A Tight Deadline
Assistant Interior Secretary Andrea Travnicek told attendees at the river's annual conference at Caesar's Palace that negotiators must move off entrenched positions or send representatives with authority to strike a deal — warning that failure could prompt federal intervention and likely litigation up to the Supreme Court.
'Give your commissioners room to negotiate and room to compromise — and if you can't do that, send us representatives that have the authority to best serve your interests, but are willing to break through the barriers to get to a consensus deal,' Travnicek said. 'The time for serious negotiations is now.'
The Interior Department has set a Feb. 14 deadline to finalize a framework that would allow time for environmental review, state legislative and local water board approval, and any necessary Congressional action and funding. Current operating guidelines for the river expire at the end of next year; new rules are needed to protect supplies for roughly 40 million people in cities including Denver, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
What’s On The Table
Negotiators have discussed a short-term 'Phase 1' plan — a five-year package that would ask the lower-basin states (Arizona, California and Nevada) to cut about 1.5 million acre-feet and require upper-basin states (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming) to launch conservation programs. Sources close to the talks say no agreement has been reached and many officials view Phase 1 as insufficient given persistent shortages.
New projections from the Bureau of Reclamation show inflows to Lake Powell were just 56 percent of average this year. Without a large winter snowpack, water behind Glen Canyon Dam could fall below hydropower intakes by next October, jeopardizing electricity generation and the Bureau's ability to move water downstream to Arizona, California and Nevada.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Acting Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Scott Cameron have sought to convene the seven governors in Washington to break the impasse. Federal staffers are also discussing a transfer of water from upstream reservoirs to bolster Lake Powell — a measure used in 2022 but politically sensitive for upper-basin states that rely on those reservoirs for local farms and cities.
As the winter snowpack season begins, Bureau officials caution that early indicators for 2026 are not promising.
'It's early, but things aren't setting up well,' said Carly Jerla, Senior Water Resources Program Manager with the Bureau of Reclamation.
With time running out, negotiators face difficult trade-offs between protecting regional water and power supplies and preserving local water uses — and the federal government has signaled it may step in if states cannot reach a consensus.
