PRESS STATEMENT

Director Buschatzke Opening Statement on Arizona Filing a motion to intervene in the Nevada Lawsuit challenging the recent federal decision governing the operation of the Colorado River

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 16, 2026                                             

Today the State of Arizona filed a motion to intervene in the Nevada lawsuit challenging the recent federal decision governing the operation of the Colorado River.

Like Nevada, Arizona believes the federal government’s new operating framework ignores basic elements of the Law of the River and could result in cuts to the state’s apportionment that would devastate Arizona’s economy.

These elements go far beyond and fall outside the Lower Basin Agreement to which we are strongly committed and continue to work with Nevada and California to implement.

Our problems with the federal government’s Record of Decision are twofold.

One: the federal government’s plan fails to deliver the water that Arizona and our fellow Lower Basin states are owed according to the Law of the River.

Two: the federal government’s Year 3-10 plan includes a range of “sideboards” that, if triggered, could require reductions to the Lower Basin of up to 3 million acre-feet per year in priority. Such reductions could effectively dry up the Central Arizona Project canal system, as well as many of our on-river communities and would more than double the water cuts agreed to in the Lower Basin Agreement.

Arizona believes that taking this action now provides the best path forward for protecting Arizona water users. We are confident that our negotiations with California, Nevada and the U.S. will move forward. In fact, by taking this step we are protecting the integrity of our Agreement. By joining this litigation we can protect Arizona’s interests, whether that’s before a judge or in any settlement discussions that may ensue.

Arizona’s priority remains the completion of a Lower Basin Agreement with California, Nevada, and the U.S. to share in water reductions over the next two years and to memorialize the  Intentionally Created Surplus tool. Through our participation in this litigation we will seek to assure that the agreement is implemented.

The Lower Basin states have contributed millions of acre-feet of water toward stabilizing the river system. With more than 5.5 million acre-feet of Arizona water left in Lake Mead since 2014, no state has sacrificed more. In collaboration with our Lower Basin state partners, the Lower Basin Agreement demonstrates that we are doing more. But the US decision puts the entire burden of sacrifice on the shoulders of three states. We are joining Nevada in challenging that framework.

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PRESS STATEMENT

Statement from Director Tom Buschatzke on the Passing of Arizona Senator Jon Kyl

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 17, 2026                                             

It is impossible to overstate the impact that Jon Kyl has had on water law and policy in Arizona and, indeed, throughout the Southwest. Among his many accomplishments, his determination to see complex Tribal water rights claims through to completion stands out. One of the most technically and politically challenging of all Tribal water settlements, the Arizona Water Settlement Act of 2004, would not have been possible without Senator Kyl’s skillful leadership. The AWSA, which the senator first introduced in 2000, was eventually signed into law in December 2004, codifying the largest water settlement agreement in Arizona’s history. His less known accomplishments, however, have proved just as impactful.

As a water attorney for Salt River Project, he was heavily involved in the negotiations that ultimately would lead to the enactment of the landmark 1980 Arizona Groundwater Management Act, as well as the creation of the agency I am proud to lead, the Arizona Department of Water Resources. 

In 1983, Kyl successfully represented the State of Arizona before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case that confirmed the jurisdiction of the state courts for comprehensive water rights adjudications that include tribal and non-tribal water rights. Always willing to sacrifice the spotlight in favor of the difficult work of creating sound water policy behind the scenes, Senator Kyl was justifiably deemed one of the world’s most influential people by Time Magazine in 2010. His influence in the development of water policy in the Southwest will be felt for generations to come.

– Tom Buschatzke, Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources

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PRESS STATEMENT

Statement on Reclamation’s Record of Decision & Operational Guidelines for Future Colorado River Operations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 21, 2026                                             

After more than three years of difficult negotiations over post-2026 Colorado River Operations guidelines, Arizona and the Lower Basin states have created a level of stability for the Colorado River system with the adoption of the 2027-2028 operating guidelines in the Record of Decision. While the framework for years 3-10 continues to be of concern, we applaud the Department of the Interior for clarifying the decision-making process for operations beyond 2028.  That outcome allows for continued negotiations for years 3-10 while preserving our ability to protect Arizona’s legal rights to Colorado River water. 

We will continue to work with our partners in Arizona, the Lower Basin and Interior, to finalize the agreements necessary to implement the Lower Basin Plan. With the Record of Decision, the 2027-2028 Operating Guidelines and the supporting agreements in place, we can focus on a longer-term, equitable, basin-wide outcome that includes shared sacrifices along with our Upper Basin partners in an effort to avoid protracted litigation. The actions in the Lower Basin in recent decades to protect the system have demonstrated how much we can accomplish when we all join together as part of the solution.

– Tom Buschatzke, Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources

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PRESS STATEMENT

ADWR statement on Reclamation’s Final Environmental Impact Statement for Future Colorado River Operations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 31, 2026                                             

For many months it has been clear that the direction of Colorado River negotiations has been an exercise in lowering expectations, particularly for a long-term, seven-state agreement on operating this vital river system. It was that increasingly bleak scenario that prompted the three Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada to step forward with our proposal to help stabilize Lake Powell and Lake Mead with more than three million acre-feet of water savings over a two-year period.

While the FEIS just released by the Department of the Interior does nothing to elevate expectations around a coherent seven-state plan for shared sacrifice, it includes an analysis that allows the adoption of many of the core elements of the Lower Basin proposal. We will continue to work with the federal government, as well as with our tribal, agricultural and municipal partners in Arizona, and the other Colorado River Basin states, to make river operations work for the betterment of all.

The FEIS contains a framework that includes sideboards that are unacceptable for the state of Arizona including reductions in the Lower Basin of up to 3 million acre-feet per year, in priority. Such reductions would devastate Arizona’s water users and its economy. The FEIS framework also fails to include any Upper Basin reductions or sufficient use of water stored in the Upper Initial Units (reservoirs above Lake Powell).

A forthcoming Record of Decision and operating guidelines will provide the details for operations through 2028 and a framework for an additional eight years of operations. We hope to see those documents provide for operations in 2027 and 2028 consistent with the May 1 Lower Basin Proposal, including sharing reductions among the three Lower Basin states (Arizona, California, and Nevada) of 1.25 million acre-feet in each year, as well as an additional commitment of 700,000 acre-feet of system conservation water.

ADWR will continue to work to complete the agreements necessary to implement the Lower Basin Proposal while preserving Arizona’s legal rights.

We will provide additional statements and opportunities for interviews when Interior releases the Record of Decision and the operating guidelines.

PDF version linked here.

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