Interior Orders a 21% Colorado River Cut for Arizona, California and Nevada After Seven-State Talks Collapse

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed the 2027-2028 Colorado River operating guidelines on Friday, Aug. 21, imposing mandatory delivery cuts on the three Lower Basin states after three years of talks among the seven basin states failed. Reuters put the reduction at roughly 21 percent of their river water in 2027 and 2028. Under the state-negotiated split Interior adopted, Arizona absorbs 760,000 acre-feet, California 440,000 and Nevada 50,000. The four Upper Basin states face no mandatory cuts, which Interior attributes to limits on its authority upstream.

The decision has the federal government setting terms the seven states could not agree on themselves, on a river that supplies one in 10 Americans and irrigates land producing 15 percent of U.S. food output. The deeper question stays open: Lower Basin cuts could nearly double to 3.0 million acre-feet after 2028 if reservoir levels require it, with no corresponding obligation upstream.

Lake Powell sat at 3,519.2 feet on Aug. 20, under 30 feet above the minimum needed to run Glen Canyon Dam's hydropower plant. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs called the Upper Basin's refusal to negotiate 'reckless' and said the state is 'prepared to protect our water by any legal means necessary.'