Summer 2015


A project of the Water Education Foundation


Reaching Reliable Supply on the Colorado River: The Moving Forward Report


By Gary Pitzer


Squaring a projected imbalance between the water supply and demand of the Colorado River hinges in part on further advances in agricultural and municipal water use efficiency, according to a May report produced by the Bureau of Reclamation, the Colorado River Basin states and numerous stakeholders. Te “Moving Forward Phase 1”


report said “the extent to which addi- tional agricultural conservation or other measures may play a role in helping to


address water supply and demand imbal- ances will affect how the agricultural sector is impacted.” On the urban side, the report points to the more than 1 million acre-feet of conservation and reuse by 2030 already slated to happen through current and planned actions. Te report is the follow-up to 2012’s Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study which concluded that, absent any additional action, the gap


between the supply demand for water could, under some projections, exceed supply by 3.2 million acre-feet, at the median, by 2060. Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona and New Mexico have rights to use the river as does Mexico and 29 Indian tribes. Indian water rights claims are a major issue for the federal government and could have a significant impact on Colorado River water users. Te tribes hold rights to 2.9 million acre-feet of


Continued on page 3


Te Central Arizona Project


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