Seven states fail to reach agreement on water cuts

By Shelle Jackson from KVOA

TUCSON, Ariz. (KVOA) - For the second time in six months, all of the seven states who are Colorado River water users have failed to reach an agreement on collectively cutting the amount of water they take.

"There is not an agreement on the table for taking less water," said Sarah Porter, Director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at the ASU Morrison Institute for Public Policy.

Two decades of drought in the west has left water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell dangerously low.

So low, the federal government ordered basin states to reduce their allotment of Colorado River water by an additional two to four million acre-feet annually.

"Negotiators from six states, they want more information to be able to be developed related to this plan so they can continue to negotiate with each other," said Porter.

California is the biggest user of Colorado River water and did not sign the letter.

"The modeling proposal submitted by the six other basin states is inconsistent with the Law of the River and does not form a seven-state consensus approach. Unfortunately, California was not able to provide input on the six-state proposal and detail our state's specific concerns," JB Hamby of the Colorado River Board of California tells News 4 Tucson.

While this "modeling alternative" may seem to lack decisive action. Porter said it's a step in the right direction.

"This is an important development. We look for things that are obvious and simple, and it's never been that way on the Colorado River," said Porter.

CNN reports more than five million people in Arizona are served by Colorado River water, which accounts for 40 percent of Phoenix’s supply. 

Meanwhile, around 90 percent of Las Vegas’ water is from the river.