Overview
- The U.S. Department of the Interior released a 10-year framework in early August 2026 that links cuts to Lake Powell and Lake Mead levels and sets up detailed two-year operating plans if the seven states stay deadlocked.
- Under the likely first two-year option, mandatory reductions would fall mainly on the Lower Basin with preliminary estimates of about 760,000 acre-feet a year for Arizona, 440,000 for California, and roughly 50,000 for Nevada (one acre-foot equals about 325,000 gallons).
- Federal managers have begun emergency reservoir releases, including from Flaming Gorge, to prop storage but officials warn those moves buy only limited time as reservoirs sit at record low levels.
- Lower Basin officials, led by Arizona, have publicly rejected the proposal and are preparing legal and political challenges while Upper Basin governors welcomed the supply-based approach as reflecting current hydrology.
- The new rules, which could be adopted by a Record of Decision with operational changes slated by Oct. 1, 2026, will raise planning uncertainty for farmers, cities and power operators and complicate long-term projects such as recycling, desalination and new storage.