Arizona and Nevada, as well as Mexico, will receive smaller water allotments from the Colorado River basin in 2023 as a result of increasingly dire drought conditions over the past two decades, US Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation officials said on Aug. 16. The drought parching much of the Western U.S. has caused water levels to drop to unprecedented levels in the river and in two of its largest reservoirs—Lake Powell and Lake Mead.

Arizona will see its annual apportionment cut by 21%; Nevada by 8%; and Mexico, by approximately 7%, based on BuRec's latest 24-month hydrology assessments. The agency stepped in because states missed the Aug. 16 deadline to reach consensus on a basin-wide plan to reduce water use by 2 million to 4 million acre ft.

Seven Western states and Mexico depend on the basin for drinking water, as well as for industrial and agricultural uses. Officials from various water agencies among the affected states and tribes have tried to come to an agreement over how to reduce the amount of water they draw from the basin but have thus far been unsuccessful.

尽管一些观察家预计会采取更强大的行动，但伯克（Burec）停止了对整个美国河流域的水管理控制。内政副部长汤米·博德罗（Tommy Beaudreau）在8月16日与记者的电话中说，他在国家讨论中看到了足够的进步以鼓励。

“局势的恐惧……我对盆地国家来到餐桌的精神感到鼓舞。这项工作将继续。”他说。此外，《最近颁布的降低通货膨胀法》的资金，该法案为干旱的弹性项目和计划以及基础设施投资和就业法案，其任务为40亿美元，将有助于为项目支付，例如储水，与效率相关的系统改进，回收，再利用，18luck官网和淡化项目。18luck官网他说：“我们以基础设施投资的形式将资源带入餐桌。”

Greg Walcher, a senior advisor at Dawson & Associates and a former director of Colorado’s Dept. of Natural Resources, told ENR that the BuRec announcement “sort of dodged the bullet and creates a framework of time in which the states can work with the Bureau to figure out more long- and short-term solutions.” He also served as lead negotiator in working out an agreement with California on its use of water from the Colorado River.

Construction Industry Impacts

美国土木工程师学会总裁玛丽亚·莱曼（Maria Lehman），美国GHD的美国基础设施市场负责人玛丽亚·莱曼（GHD）告诉ENR，IIJA的资金，降低通货膨胀法案和最近颁布的筹码法将提供机会，这将为西方提供帮助新利luck水危机将挑战设计和建筑公司，尤其是与寻找足够的项目和在需要时获得供应​​的工人有关。18luck官网

Moreover, because the laws are so interrelated, “You’re going to have multi-agency collaboration at a higher level than you’ve ever had before,” she says.

For management of the Colorado River basin, Lehman says BuRec must find a way to balance water needs with power needs, which will require interactions with other federal agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Dept. of Energy. “There’s no magical line that separates energy from water,” she notes. Projects—and programs—need to be thought about in a more holistic way, Lehman adds.

Avoiding ‘Catastrophic Collapse’

州际契约和规则的复杂性关于水权以及西方国家之间的水资源管理可能会令人眼花di乱，并且对现有框架的任何更改导航是一个充满活力的，有时甚至是诉讼的过程。Beaudreau和其他DOI官员说，但是需要采取周到的协作行动。

If waters in the reservoir plummet too low, the Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams—two hydroelectric dams that provide most of the energy for millions of people in the region—would no longer be able to generate necessary power, and some states with less clout could end up with the short end of the stick.

“为避免科罗拉多河系统的灾难性崩溃以及不确定性和冲突的未来，必须减少盆地的用水，”水和科学助理秘书Tanya Trujillo说。

BuRec is studying the feasibility and safety of modifying both Glen Canyon and Hoover dams to allow water to be pumped or released from below currently identified critical levels.

特鲁希略（Trujillo）说，研究更专注于“维持现有结构的完整性”，而不是潜在地退役大坝。她说：“我们需要完好无损的基础设施，并能够为依靠它的每个人保护水供应。”