A new proposal for managing the Colorado River would see Arizona leaving some of its water in the river, but would help cities and towns in the Phoenix area avoid the \u201cdevastating\u201d cutbacks that had been previously planned.<\/p>\n
The plan, which was co-signed by Arizona, California and Nevada, is designed to prop up major reservoirs<\/a> through 2028 while easing deep cuts to the Central Arizona Project. The CAP is a 336-mile canal system that carries Colorado River water to the Phoenix and Tucson areas.<\/p>\n The nation\u2019s two largest reservoirs \u2014 Lake Powell and Lake Mead \u2014 have been on course for all-time lows after a 26-year megadrought was compounded by the most recent winter, which set records for dry conditions.<\/p>\n The federal government had proposed a plan to boost those reservoirs by making cutbacks in Arizona, which local water leaders described as disproportionately harmful to the CAP. The proposal cast a wave of anxiety over cities and towns that depend on its water<\/a>. In Cave Creek, for example, those plans would have taken away<\/a> nearly 60% of the town\u2019s Colorado River supply, which accounts for nearly all of the water that flows through city pipes.<\/p>\n A proposal from Arizona, California and Nevada would cut back on water and prop up Lake Mead and Lake Powell.<\/p>\n Officials with the Central Arizona Project said the federal proposal<\/a> was trying to \u201cwipe us off the map\u201d and hinted that they might pursue legal action<\/a> if it was enacted.<\/p>\n This new proposal would steer The Valley away from that reality.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s the difference between devastating, impossible to manage cuts that wouldn’t have real impacts on some of those communities\u2019 residents, to something that’s manageable,\u201d said Patrick Dent, CAP\u2019s assistant general manager of water policy.<\/p>\n The previous federal plan could have made 237,000 acre-feet of water available to CAP, according to Dent. The new three-state plan would more than double that amount, making about 820,000 acre-feet available to the agency.<\/p>\n