WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has reached a landmark deal with states dependent on the Colorado River to conserve water amid the decades-long drought.
The three Colorado River lower basin states -- California, Nevada and Arizona -- will be required to conserve an unprecedented 3 million-acre-feet of water through 2026, the White House announced in a press release Monday.
Last month, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposed a plan to cut water allotments to states to combat dwindling water levels along the Colorado River. It gave the seven Colorado River states the options of no intervention -- allowing the states to come to their own agreement; cutting the amount of water released from the Glen Canyon Dam based on water rights -- with California being the priority; or water cuts spread evenly among the states.
The proposal comes with a decades-long mega drought reducing water levels in the Colorado River, Lake Mead and Lake Powell -- the two largest reservoirs in the world -- to record-low levels.
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