By Andrew Hay
July 28 (Reuters) –
The U.S. government on Friday announced proposed guidelines for sharing the drought-stricken Colorado River, which provides water to one in 10 Americans, irrigates land producing 15% of U.S. food output and generates power for 6 million people in seven states.
The seven states who share the waters — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, California and Nevada — were unable to agree on how to divide the resource after over three years of talks to replace a plan that expires this year.
So the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation intervened with a 10-year plan through 2036 designed to provide flexibility to operate the river’s two largest reservoirs – Lake Powell and Lake Mead – based on the river’s changing conditions, according to a final environmental impact statement released by the agency.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; editing by Donna Bryson and Aurora Ellis)
