# @downinnadesert on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DbeLCyKktyM
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68548198-downinnadesert-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/312f4bf033.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-07-31T20:56:03.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Down In The Desert🌵 (@downinnadesert) — https://gondola.cc/downinnadesert

## Caption

The federal government just put out the rulebook for how the Colorado River gets divided over the next decade, and Arizona is first in line to lose water.

The Bureau of Reclamation released the proposal Friday. Under it, Arizona, California and Nevada could face collective cuts of up to 3 million acre-feet through 2036, which the AP notes is roughly enough water to serve more than 25 million people for a year. The plan would allow annual releases from Lake Powell between 5 and 12 million acre-feet. Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are temporarily spared from mandatory cuts.

So why does Arizona always eat it first? It goes back to 1968. To get Congress to fund the Central Arizona Project, the canal that carries river water to Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona agreed CAP water would be the lowest priority in the Lower Basin. In a shortage, it’s the first thing cut. That deal built modern Arizona, and it’s the same reason we’re the most exposed when the river runs short.

Gov. Katie Hobbs pushed back hard, saying the proposal still includes options that would force Arizona to absorb the majority of the cutbacks, which she called unacceptable. She’s pointing instead to a Lower Basin compromise for 2027 and 2028 and arguing reductions should be spread more evenly. The other basin states have been arguing their own cases for years and don’t see it her way.

The part that matters most. This is a range of alternatives, not a final decision. Nobody’s water got cut today. A federal decision is still coming, and the current operating rules expire at the end of this year, which is why all of this is happening now.

Arizona, how closely are you following this one?

Via: FOX 10 Phoenix, Associated Press

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#Arizona #ColoradoRiver #AZNews #Water #DownInnaDesert

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coloradoriver, downinnadesert, aznews, water, arizona

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