What a difference a year makes.
This time last year, Arizona and Nevada were united with Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah on the idea that everyone (well, everyone who gets water from Lake Mead) must cut water use to help shore up the Colorado River.
California was the odd state out, clinging tight to its position that it didn’t have to.
Now, a year later, the Lower Basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada are united on the idea that everyone — and by everyone, they mean everyone — should be expected to pitch in when stored river water drops dangerously low.
While the Upper Basin states of Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and Utah remain united on the idea that they’ve already given up enough water to Mother Nature, and that since the Lower Basin effectively drained much of the water in storage, it should shoulder the burden of building it back.
A year ago, the federal Bureau of Reclamation was pressing all seven states to figure out how they would cut up to 4 million acre-feet of water use — a third or more of what flows through the Colorado River each year — for the next several years.
Yet, for now, the agency is staying mum........