PRESS STATEMENT

ADWR statement in response to Department of Interior’s new Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

By the end of 2023, the Lower Basin will have voluntarily conserved more than 1 million acre-feet in the Colorado River system. This volume is on top of reductions in use mandated by the 2007 Guidelines and the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan, which resulted in a cumulative 617,000 acre-feet being stored in Lake Mead this year by the three states.

As a result of the conservation and the reductions in use, Arizona, California and Nevada this year have put just 5.8 million acre-feet to consumptive use – the lowest consumptive use since 1984.

Arizona’s conservation efforts alone have been substantial.

Including voluntary contributions and reductions mandated by the ‘07 Guidelines and the DCP, Arizona has conserved over 3.7 million acre-feet of water in Lake Mead since 2014. In 2023 alone, Arizona is on track to conserve 907,000 acre-feet:

• Tier 2a shortage reduction stipulated by ‘07 Guidelines – 400 KAF
• Tier 2a DCP contribution – 192 KAF
• System Conservation funded by Bureau of Reclamation – ~272 KAF
• ADWR-CAWCD ICS Preservation – ~43 KAF
• Total – ~907 KAF

Taken together, the ongoing voluntary commitments are on track to achieve the volumes in the Lower Basin consensus proposal offered to the federal government earlier this year. Combined with the past year’s above-average hydrology, the system is stable through 2026.

As a result, the states will continue focusing their efforts on post-2026 operational guidelines in order to stabilize the Colorado River system for the long-term.

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