Seven States Fail to Agree on Colorado River Plan Before Key Deadline

By: Dillon Thomas | CBS Colorado

The future of the Colorado River, and its use by seven states that rely on it, is still up in the air after negotiators failed to meet a deadline set by the federal government. The Upper Basin and Lower Basin states were asked to have a plan set for the future of the river by Tuesday night, as the current plans are set to expire by the end of 2026.

The river is heavily utilized by the Lower Basin states, which make up Arizona, California and Nevada. Otherwise largely deserts, the Colorado River allows for both communities and agriculture to thrive in those states.

The Upper Basin, consisting of Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, comparatively rely less heavily on the Colorado River even as populations continue to rise in those states.

“We made an agreement in 1922 about how we would divide up the water on the Colorado River,” said Jennifer Gimbel, senior water policy scholar at Colorado State University.

However, since then, the populations in all the states that rely on the river have increased, especially in the Lower Basin. That includes the farms that soak up a majority of the water pulled to those states in order to supply the country with winter vegetables and fruits.

“Mother nature has given us less flows in the Colorado River,” Gimbel said.

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