PHOTO: The federally-funded Central Arizona Project aqueduct diverts about 1.4 million acre feet per year from the Colorado River.
After 36 hours of watching pundits, agencies, and finally President Biden claim a “historic agreement” with the Colorado River deal announced yesterday, Save The Colorado steps in to set the record straight.
First, last year, Commissioner Touton told a U.S. Senate Subcommittee that 2 to 4 million acre feet of water per year had to be permanently conserved (not diverted) in order to protect the Colorado River system.
The deal announced yesterday amounts to 1 million acre feet of water per year, temporarily, for the next 3 years.
Second, the entities that reached the agreement — lower basin farmers and cities — had to get paid to reach it. In fact, the administration claims that 2.3 million acre feet of the water will be “compensated” by the federal taxpayer through the “Inflation Reduction Act”.
News reports suggest this so-called “inflation reduction” could cost the U.S. taxpayer $1.2 billion.
Third, it has been those exact same farmers and ranchers — who have taken more water out of the river than they were legally entitled to for the past two decades, and helped push the river to the brink of collapse — that the Biden administration is now paying to stop doing it on a temporary basis.
Fourth, the agreement does zero to address the over 20 proposed new dams/diversions/pipelines in the Upper Basin that would drain even more water out of the river, without requiring any water savings by any farmer or city in the Upper Basin.
Finally, the so-called “deal” gives nothing to the environment or the ecological health of the river:
- The flow of water through the depleted Grand Canyon does not improve as compared to the last 2 decades.
- The endangered fish in the river continue to struggle on life support, only maintained by a captive forever breeding and stocking program.
- Glen Canyon Dam — the doomed dam that should’ve never been built and which is partly the cause of the crisis — gets “saved” for at least 3 more years.
“This so-called ‘historic agreement’ offers nothing sustainable, equitable, financially reasonable, or environmentally sound,” said Gary Wockner of Save The Colorado. “For President Biden to cheer this insanity forward is a bellyflop in the Colorado River.”
Gary Wockner, PhD, is a scientist and conservationist based in Colorado. Follow him on Twitter, @GaryWockner. Learn more at savethecolorado.org