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Colorado River Rights, Funding, and Allocations04-01-25 | Legislation

Colorado River Rights, Funding, and Allocations

U.S. Declines to Give Mexico More Water
by Rebecca Radtke, LASN

The Colorado River is in a transition period.

The Colorado Basin Roundtable met on March 24 to discuss water rights in the Colorado River Basin including several organizations presenting grant requests. Current plans are set to expire in 2026, leaving many concerned about the uncertainty but conservation work continues.

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Meanwhile, The Colorado River Authority of Utah approved the first round of applicants for the state's Demand Management Pilot Program - which according to their website, was developed "to proactively plan for and respond to drought in the Colorado River Basin, Utah needs a water conservation program to help agricultural water users reduce consumption on a temporary, voluntary, compensated, and protected basis."

Under this pilot program the state will test the application of a Utah Code that empowers the State Engineer to authorize and distribute conserved water in a program per the Authority. The Pilot Program features over a dozen projects along the river in eastern and southeastern Utah.

This comes as the United States declined a request by Mexico for water after resources under a treaty reached a cutoff for special deliveries according to Newsweek. In 1944, the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande treaty was signed as a way for the U.S. and Mexico to share water from the Colorado River and Rio Grande, now Tijuana receives 90% of its water from the Colorado River. This treaty requires 1.5 million acre-feet of water to be delivered to Mexico by the U.S. while the U.S. receives 350,000 acre-feet of water from Mexico annually over a five-year span and the latest is scheduled to end in Oct. 2025.

Part of the refusal is due to Mexico accruing a water debt that has led to the southern neighbor falling behind on water sharing payments.

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