Obviously, its not going swimmingly, said Jeffrey Kightlinger, the former general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, a water provider that is a major player in the talks. That a lush hay farm had once been here seemed hard to believe. Despite deadlines, discussions have not resulted in agreements. The top 5 states are Mississippi, Missouri,. Otherwise, the state has to invest in the whole thing and pay the opportunity cost of just having that water sitting there.. And now, water officials are grappling with how to make do with less. But for more than a hundred years, millions of people have relied on the water that flows into the Colorado River from the Rocky Mountain snowpack. The two lakes, combined, were at 92% capacity in 1999, Bunk noted. It has offered its own plan to conserve water. An earlier version of this story stated that the Imperial Irrigation District's allotment of Colorado River water is enough to cover all of its irrigated land with 5 inches of water. as temperatures rise, mountain snows melt faster in spring, and the state lacks capacity to store the runoff. California split from the six states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming on Tuesday in the face of a U.S. government deadline to negotiate their own supply cuts or face possible mandatory cutbacks by the federal government. They inherited the legal right to use that water, but they're now under pressure to give up some of it. "I think people would like to believe that we can somehow figure out a way to keep these economic activities, keep our kind of economies and livelihoods, going," Megdal said. If power production ceases at Glen Canyon Dam, rural electric cooperatives, cities and tribal utilities would be forced to seek more expensive options. Wall Street investors recognize the term valuable, he said, and now theyre here., Wall Street Eyes Billions in the Colorados Water, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/03/business/colorado-river-water-rights.html. Despite predictions for more such atmospheric rivers, of growing size and frequency, California cannot solve its long-term crisis without major investments to capture more storm water, restore flood plains and recycle wastewater. Cardenas said the prospect of a 10 percent cut to the regions $5 billion agricultural economy would mean serious economic pain for a community that already suffers from high unemployment. In addition, those states are getting a hand from scientists at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton this year tasked Colorado River states with creating an ambitious conservation plan.