For those of you who don’t live in the Colorado River watershed, you might not know much about the Colorado River Compact and the negotiations among the watershed’s 7 states to divide the river’s water.  In 1922 the 7 states negotiated the Compact “to provide for the equitable division and apportionment of the use of the waters of the Colorado River System.”  The agreement was essentially to split the river’s water in half in perpetuity – half to upper basin states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) and half to lower basin states (Arizona, California, and Nevada) – with each group dividing that allotment among themselves .  With the worst drought in a millennium in the region, and frightening photos of Lake Mead everywhere,

 

the lower basin states reached a deal with each state agreeing to conserve “more than 10%” of their allotment over the next three years for a major payout by the federal government.

With this in the background, local NPR* aired a profile of JB Hanby, California’s top water negotiator.  He is 27, grew up in the area and also represents the Imperial Irrigation District (IID), California’s largest Colorado River water user, located in southeastern California bordering Mexico and western Arizona.  California is widely depicted as the hardball villain negotiator who is unwilling to do anything to work on Colorado water issues, in part because of the IID.  Why?  As the profile states

Perhaps Hamby’s most arduous task is to dig in his heels and try to keep water in California, just like so many of the state’s water negotiators before him. California’s Colorado River allocation isn’t just the largest among the seven Colorado River basin states – it’s also the most legally untouchable.

In fact in January 2023, California was the only hold out to a failed deal the other six states signed onto.  However, with the agreement reached among the lower basin states this spring, the negotiators have until 2026 to get something done.  And it will be interesting to see how Hamby, and the other water negotiators, handle the intense negotiations around Colorado River water going forward.

* KJZZ is the local affiliate, but the piece was produced by KUNC in Fort Collins Colorado, which has great coverage of Colorado River water issues.