PRESS RELEASE: Southern Nevada Water Authority Smacks Upper Basin With “500,000 acre feet of Mandatory Cuts”

For Immediate Release
12/23/2022

Contact: Gary Wockner, Save The Colorado, 970-218-8310

Southern Nevada Water Authority Smacks Upper Basin With “500,000 acre feet of Mandatory Cuts”

Colorado River: Today, as reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal (story here), the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) has submitted a plan to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that calls for “Additional mandatory cuts of 500,000 acre-feet from the four states in the upper basin — Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.”

The plan counters the Upper Basin’s persistent claims that the whole Colorado River problem is caused by, and must be fixed by, the Lower Basin states of California, Nevada, and Arizona.

At the same time, the Upper Basin states — especially Colorado — are planning, permitting, and even building more dams and diversions — totaling ~20 projects — that would take more water out of the Colorado River before it reaches Lake Powell. In fact, the Upper Basin claims it is entitled to 400,000 more acre feet of diversions.

“Finally someone is speaking out against Colorado and the Upper Basin’s schemes to further drain the Colorado River and escalate the political chaos,” said Gary Wockner of Save The Colorado. “Let’s hope the Bureau of Reclamation listens to SNWA and clamps down because Colorado and the Upper Basin states need to immediately stop building more dams and diversions, stop planning for more dams and diversions, and start diverting far less water.”

Save The Colorado tracks and opposes all of the proposed new dams/diversions/pipelines in the Colorado River basin, listed here.

This press release is posted here.

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