Conservation credit

By HEATHER SACKETT

Aspen Journalism

Colorado River water managers are moving forward with a plan to track and get credit for conserved water.

The Upper Colorado River Commission on Monday voted unanimously to move ahead with the creation of a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that would provide accounting and credit to the Upper Basin states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) for water saved through conservation programs. It would also identify qualifying criteria for water conservation projects. A draft of the memorandum of understanding is expected by the end of September.

The states and the bureau would conduct this provisional accounting of water saved in Lake Powell and other Upper Basin reservoirs through 2026.

“The provisional accounting is exactly that,” said Upper Colorado River Commission Executive Director Chuck Cullom. “It is not an operational guide for Reclamation; it is a means for folks to understand how much water would be available in that account upon the implementation of a formal agreement or credit program.”

Credit for the stored water could be formalized in one of two ways: as part of the post-2026 guidelines for reservoir operations, which the seven Colorado River basin states are in the midst of negotiating, or by implementing the demand management storage agreement, which was part of the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan.

For the past two years, some Upper Basin water users have been participating in a federally funded program known as the System Conservation Pilot Program, where they are paid to voluntarily use less water. The program is projected to save about 101,000 acre-feet of water at a cost of $45 million.

Despite one of the stated intentions of System Conservation Pilot Program being to protect critical reservoir levels, the program does not track the conserved water to see how much of it ultimately ended up in Lake Powell. This lack of accounting has been one of the criticisms of the program, with some water users saying water conserved in the Upper Basin was simply being sent downstream to enable what they say is overuse by the Lower Basin states (Arizona, California and Nevada). The memorandum of understanding would be a step toward remedying that.

“If we’re reducing

See CREDIT, page 4A ➤

The Colorado River flows near the state line in western Colorado. Representatives from the seven basin states that use the river are negotiating how future cuts will be shared in dry years. The Upper Basin states — Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico — are set to create a memorandum of understanding with the Bureau of Reclamation that would provide accounting and credit for water saved through conservation programs.

HEATHER SACKETT/ Aspen Journalism

Farmer Larry Cox walks in a plowed field with his dog, Brodie, at his farm near Brawley, California, in this 2022 file photo. Fallowing fields has been one way those in the Upper Basin Colorado River states have conserved water the past two years for a System Conservation Pilot Program, where water users are paid to voluntarily use less water.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Glen Canyon Dam in Page, Arizona, is seen in this 2023 file photo. The water formed behind the dam comprises Lake Powell, one of the two largest reservoirs in the U.S. The seven states that use the Colorado River, which flows into Lake Powell, are working on ways to conserve water in the future. Representatives from the Upper Colorado River Commission, as well as from California, Nevada and Arizona, are in the midst of figuring out how the nation’s two largest reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — will be operated after 2026 and which water users will be cut by how much in dry years.

CHRISTOPHER TOMLINSON/ The Daily Sentinel

. Continued from page 1A demand and using taxpayer money to do it, then we have to make sure that it’s meaningful,” said Anne Castle, Upper Colorado River Commission chair and the body’s federal representative. “It needs to provide benefit to the states that created that conserved water. That’s particularly important right now when the basin states are in difficult discussions about how to allocate the reductions in use that we all know are needed in the future.”

Upper Basin states are interested in “getting credit” for stored water because it could protect them in the event of a compact call. As the effects of demand, drought and climate change push the Upper Basin closer to not being able to deliver the required amount of water to the Lower Basin under the terms of the 1922 Colorado River Compact, water managers have been grappling with the idea of an insurance pool in Lake Powell.

From 2019 to 2022, the state of Colorado explored the concept of demand management, which would pay water users to temporarily cut back and store the conserved water in Lake Powell. Water could be released from this pool instead of shutting off cities and irrigators.

There is urgency to figure out how the Upper Basin states can track, measure and get credit for conserved water because there will soon be more opportunities for water conservation programs. This fall, the Bureau of Reclamation plans to announce funding for what officials are calling “Bucket 2 Water Conservation” projects. These are projects that would achieve verifiable, multiyear reductions in use or demand for water supplies.

SEVEN STATES

Commissioners also gave an update on discussions with the seven basin states on how the river will be managed after 2026. Representatives from the Upper Colorado River Commission, as well as from California, Nevada and Arizona, are in the midst of figuring out how the nation’s two largest reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — will be operated after 2026 and which water users will be cut by how much in dry years.

In their proposal to the Bureau of Reclamation, the Lower Basin states demanded that the Upper Basin share in future cuts when reservoir levels dip. But Upper Basin commissioners stood by the counter-proposal they offered in March, called the Upper Basin Alternative, which does not include mandatory cuts for Upper Basin water users.

“The upper division states continue to stand behind the alternative that we submitted and know that it provides a reasonable alternative for sustainable operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead,” said Colorado Commissioner Becky Mitchell.

Although the Upper Basin’s proposal does not commit to sharing in cuts when reservoir levels fall, it does offer “parallel activities,” which would include voluntary, temporary and compensated reductions in use (as the System Conservation Pilot Program does), which are separate from the post-2026 guidelines process.

“We’re moving forward with our parallel actions like we have committed to do,” said Utah Commissioner Gene Shawcroft. “I think that’s significant.”

Although the Upper Basin and Lower Basin states have competing proposals, Upper Basin commissioners said Monday they are still committed to finding a consensus with their Lower Basin counterparts.

Aspen Journalism is a nonprofit, investigative news organization covering water, environment, social justice and more. Visit http://aspenjournalism. org.

A full and fast-moving Colorado River as seen from 38 Road in Palisade on June 13. There is urgency to figure out how the Upper Basin states can track, measure and get credit for conserved water because there will soon be more opportunities for water conservation programs.

LARRY ROBINSON/ The Daily Sentinel