The top federal official on the Colorado River said his agency is targeting the middle of this summer to formalize a new water-sharing plan.
Scott Cameron, the acting commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency which manages the nation's largest reservoirs, addressed a crowd of water experts in Boulder, Colorado.
"I can't give you exact dates," he said, "But I would expect mid to late summer, and as we get closer, we'll try to signal a bit more precision around that."
Cameron's speech, delivered at an annual conference on water policy, was a relatively rare public appearance for the Reclamation chief. He has been working alongside state leaders to craft a new plan for managing shrinking water supplies from the Colorado River.
Cameron may soon depart the position. As KJZZ reported earlier this week, a water policy expert from California is expected to be nominated for Reclamation commissioner in the coming weeks.
Federal water officials have urged the seven states that use the Colorado River to agree on a plan for sharing its water. If they don't, Reclamation will likely install its own, but it risks being sued by states that could accuse the federal government of overstepping its authority.
So far, state leaders are at an impasse about those new rules, and a seven-state agreement seems unlikely. Arizona, California and Nevada have banded together to propose their own set of rules, and the federal government appears likely to incorporate parts of that proposal in its own plan for the Colorado River.
That three-state proposal relies on the availability of federal money to pay water users who lose some of their share under mandatory cutbacks. Cameron warned that federal money for such programs may be limited going forward.
"I hate to give you all bad news," he said, "But there isn't a lot of money left. There just isn't. There are some folks out there who have sort of bought on to the myth that we're sitting on $2 or $3 or $4 billion. I'm sorry to tell you, we aren't."
"It's much, much less, less than that. It's south of $100 million at this point."
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