Colorado River Compact - Future Developments and Issues

Future Developments and Issues

Since the development of the Colorado River Compact, California has been using the surplus water that has been left over from other states; however with increasing population growth in the Southwest there is concern that this surplus soon will not exist for California’s use. In 2001, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt signed an interim agreement, determining how water surplus from the Colorado River will be allocated between the states and creating a fifteen year period to allow California time to put conservation methods in place to reduce the state’s water usage and dependence on Colorado River water.

There is also concern regarding Nevada’s increasing population and the state’s water usage. Nevada, with the smallest water allocation in the lower river basin, may find in the near future that the water supplied by the Colorado River will not meet the state’s growing needs . However in 2008 Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager Pat Mulroy said that she does not support a water reallocation; because all of the states in the river basin have experienced growth she says that it is unlikely that Nevada’s allocation would increase, and it could even decrease. Instead Nevada, like California, may have to work on conservation methods as well as finding other water sources to support the state’s growing population.