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New Colorado River Deal Would Make Cadiz Water Project More Essential

  • After 16 years of drought, the deteriorating situation on the Colorado River makes it clear that the ability to transfer 50,000 acre feet of Cadiz Water Project water annually to Southern California is more important than ever.
As Lake Mead plunges, Cadiz grows more important

As Lake Mead plunges, Cadiz grows more important

Every drop of water in the Colorado River from its headwaters to the Gulf of California is allocated – so much so that the huge Warren H. Brock Reservoir in southern-most Imperial County was built to capture any extra drops headed south before they cross the border into Mexico.

Lake Mead’s water levels are dropping towards unprecedentedly low levels that would trigger severe allocation cuts for Arizona and Nevada. California’s Colorado River water rights are older, larger and more secure than Arizona’s and Nevada’s, so the states have been in talks. The Voice of San Diego reports:

Under current law, California has first dibs on much of the river’s water. California’s rights to the Colorado are so secure that the Central Arizona Project —a 336-mile series of canals and pipelines that brings river water to 80 percent of Arizona’s population— would have to run dry before California has to lose a single drop.

That is the consequence of a deal worked out in the late-1960s. That might be the law, but it’s now hard to imagine letting civilization in Arizona wither while California is unscathed.

Water officials involved in the negotiations worry that without a new deal, politicians will eventually decide everyone’s collective fates rather than technocrats like themselves with experience managing water.

And so, California representatives have offered to forgo up to 8 percent of the state’s Colorado River water, if things get bad enough. [emphasis added]

Talks continue and the deal is by no means done, but the 16-year drought in the Colorado River Basin is forcing the issue. According to The Voice of San Diego, Jeff Kightlinger, MWD’s General Manager, now estimates a one-in-three chance the talks will lead to California having to give up water and a one-in-four chance it would get that water back.

What This Means for the Cadiz Water Project

The deteriorating situation on the Colorado River suggests that now is the time to implement additional Colorado River supply augmentation projects, including “off-aqueduct” options like the Cadiz Water Project. If conditions on the river do ultimately cause California to cut its allocation, then the Project’s 50,000 acre feet a year could help fill the aqueduct and improve Colorado River supply options into the region during years of reduced allocations.

Additionally, the long-term availability of “off-aqueduct” Cadiz water near the Colorado River Aqueduct could allow those reliant on California’s Colorado River allocation to leave supplies in Mead and take deliveries from Cadiz instead. This would help fill some of the aqueduct capacity lost to the allocation reduction, providing a greater degree  of operational flexibility that would benefit not only California users but also users in all of the Western states.

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