PHOENIX — U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is warning that Arizona’s decision to join Nevada’s lawsuit over Colorado River water cuts could leave the state worse off, while Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton says the legal fight is necessary, ABC15 reported.
“The last thing that Arizona should want to do is have a judge decide where the water is going to go,” Burgum said while visiting southern Arizona this week. He predicted the case would be dismissed, arguing a state “can’t be injured in theory,” and pointed out that Arizona holds the most junior water rights of the seven river states.
Stanton called Gov. Katie Hobbs’ move to join the suit “the right thing to do.” He said the federal plan would cut roughly 30% of Arizona’s allocation over the next two years, and that the lawsuit is mainly about preventing further, disproportionate reductions after that period.
Stanton argues Lower Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada — are being asked to absorb the bulk of the cuts while Upper Basin states face no comparable mandatory reductions. He also noted Arizona uses less water today than it did 50 years ago despite rapid growth.
The Colorado River serves about 40 million people in the U.S. and Mexico. Its water is divided under a century-old patchwork of compacts, federal laws and court rulings, and years of drought have pushed reservoirs to worrying lows.
Sources: ABC15. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Adrille (edit by Aqwis) / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
