AP News70%
Arizona, California and Nevada would share cuts under federal proposal to manage the Colorado River | AP News 26%
By WUFEI YU37% DORANY PINEDA32% BRITTANY PETERSON33%
7/31/2026, 7:55:25 AM
Keywords: Colorado River, Arizona, California, Nevada, Drought, Federal Proposal, Water Management, Bureau Of Reclamation, Hydropower, Agriculture, Climate Change, Water Rights, Wyoming, Climate And Environment, Doug Burgum, Co State Wire, Ut State Wire, Utah, Colorado, Nm State Wire, New Mexico, Nv State Wire, Waterways, Tom Buschatzke, Politics, Wy State Wire, Az State Wire
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Pessimism Bias, Optimism Bias, and Availability Heuristic, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 18.6% saturation with 113 hits. Analysis detected 593 faulty-reasoning hits from 606 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 32.8% and a BS Rank of 26% (19,314 of 26,004 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 74.30% 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.
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.
How the water is allocated and conserved — especially amid a decades-long drought — has led to contentious arguments among the states, including threats of lawsuits.
Both basins drew up proposals but didn’t decide together on a single plan.
Because the states didn’t reach an agreement, the federal government stepped in with its own proposal to buoy the river.
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.
Governors in the four Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming 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.
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.
___ Pineda reported from Los Angeles and Peterson from Denver.
Associated Press writer Mead Gruver contributed from Fort Collins, Colorado.
___
Analysis
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