AP News72%
Arizona, California and Nevada would share cuts under federal proposal to manage the Colorado River | AP News 26%
By WUFEI YU40% DORANY PINEDA35% BRITTANY PETERSON36%
7/31/2026, 7:55:25 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Pessimism Bias, Optimism Bias, and Appeal to Authority, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 11.9% saturation with 76 hits. Analysis detected 579 faulty-reasoning hits from 639 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 30.5% and a BS Rank of 26% (22,798 of 30,584 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 74.50% of the article peer group.
PHOENIX (AP) — Three western U.S. states would take less water from the Colorado River under a federal proposal released Friday to stave off a crisis in the beleaguered waterway.
The U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation proposal spares four other states from facing mandatory cuts for now.
It’s meant to be flexible, allowing deeper cuts in drier times while giving the states more time to collectively agree on how to manage the dwindling resource that flows through dams to produce hydropower.
The Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada could together be forced to reduce their use by up to 3 million acre-feet (130 billion cubic feet) annually through 2036 — about the amount that Arizona and Nevada receive and enough to serve more than 25 million people a year.
The actual reductions would be determined every two years based on conditions throughout the basin.
“The Department has a responsibility to ensure the Colorado River system remains reliable and resilient for the millions of Americans, communities and industries that depend on it,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement.
Arizona and Nevada have faced mandatory reductions before, but the proposal outlines deeper cuts that could impact agriculture, cities and tribes.
It could translate into higher water prices, more reliance on groundwater and leaving fields unplanted, experts say.
The proposal comes after years of deadlocked negotiations among the states and threats of lawsuits if a proposal didn’t comply with longstanding laws and guidelines that govern the river, some of which expire at the end of 2026.
A record-dry winter also left two key Colorado River reservoirs at a combined record low.
Federal officials are expected to finalize the proposal in the coming days.
Leaders in Arizona, which has the lowest priority rights in the Lower Basin, called the federal proposal flawed.
Those in California said it’s an important milestone but not the finish line.
Nevada officials called the proposed reductions unrealistic and devastating.
The four Upper Basin state governors gave the document a favorable initial assessment but said they were still reviewing it.
“We are encouraged that new operating guidelines will better reflect existing water supply which must underpin any practicable plan going forward,” the governors said in a joint statement.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources said the proposed cuts devastate its water users and economy.
The Central Arizona Project, which manages much of the state’s allocation used primarily in metro Phoenix and Tucson, said the proposal doesn’t accurately portray Arizona’s rights.
How are the states reacting?
Because the states didn’t reach an agreement, the federal government stepped in with its own proposal to buoy the river.
The states will have a say in how they shoulder the cuts, though the federal government is expected to offer suggestions in the coming days.
Arizona Department of Water Resources director Tom Buschatzke said it will be painful.
Farmers in Southern California and Yuma, Arizona, produce the majority of North America’s leafy greens in the winter.
“Those are a lot of potential devastating impacts — and a lot of uncertainties for all of us,” Buschatzke said.
Cities in metro Phoenix don’t rely entirely on the Colorado River and likely will keep everyone’s taps running, but water rates will increase in some areas, said Rhett Larson, a water law professor at Arizona State University.
The city of Gilbert, for example, has increased residential water rates by 50% since April 2025, he said.
“We are not running out of water.
We’re running out of cheap water,” Larson said.
Meanwhile, cities across the Colorado River basin are constantly on the hunt for new sources of water, like tapping groundwater, treating wastewater and desalinating water, all of which are more expensive than deliveries from the Colorado River.
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5speakers28%attributed speech459writer words
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100%flagged-word coverageDoug Burgum
35 attributed words19% of attributed speech52% writer coverage
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