Caretakers of the Colorado back in action

A statewide steering committee is back in action 10 months after it helped pass a monumental seven-state deal to protect the most valuable water resource in the Southwest, the Colorado River. 

Because of that agreement, called the Drought Contingency Plan (DCP), Arizona’s water supplies are less likely to dip dangerously low over the next several years. 

But the DCP was just a temporary fix. The longest drought in Arizona’s recorded history continues to place stress on “America’s Nile.”

Now, the committee has reconvened for the next step: protecting Arizona’s share of the river beyond 2026. 

“This job that we all share of managing Arizona’s critical water supply is the gift that keeps on giving. Our work is never, ever done,” Ted Cooke, co-chair of the committee and the general manager of the Central Arizona Project (CAP), said at the kick-off meeting Thursday. “The DCP, as important as it was, was for a very brief period of time, only several months to put it in place, and it will only be a few years that it will be operational, and already we’re having to start working on the next thing.”

Same committee members, longer commitment 

The 38 member task force is almost an exact replica of last year’s. The heads of city water departments, governing bodies and tribes are represented, like Kathryn Sorensen for the city of Phoenix, Lisa Atkins, board president for the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, and Chairman Dennis Patch of the Colorado River Indian Tribes. 

Representatives from industry and development, farming and ranching, and non profit organizations also are back. 

Arizona legislative leaders and representatives from the Governor’s office will help smooth the process if water measures and funding need support at the state Capitol. 

This new effort will be more complex and time consuming this time around with climate change on the forefront, said co-chair, Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources.  

“Millions of people in the state of Arizona rely on the Colorado River for their water use in their homes, for their jobs that they have within the state, and for the food that farmers grow using Colorado River water,” he said. “That is what this is really about. It is incumbent on us to make sure that water supply is there now and in the future for those people, for those purposes.”

Arizona heralded as national model 

Last year’s success came about largely because the committee was made up of an array of water interests, often competing, from the public, private and nonprofit sectors, Buschatzke said. All had to agree on how everyone would take cuts to water supplies and other measures to conserve water to keep the river sustainable. 

Now, Arizona is being touted as a model for other states. Bringing everyone to the table to reach consensus is the lynchpin, he said.  

Before the end of 2026, the U.S. Secretary of the Interior will develop new guidelines for the long-term management of the Colorado River system. The seven Colorado River Basin States will play a leading role in the process to develop those new guidelines.

Arizona, California and Nevada make up the lower basin states. The upper basin states are Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. 

Arizona’s to-do list to take years 

The committee, called the Arizona Reconsultation Committee (ARC), saw unanimous attendance at the first meeting last week. 

Its main task will be to negotiate how to continue to shore up levels at the river’s two storage lakes, Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Currently, they are 41 percent and 53 percent full, respectively.

Committee members can expect at least three years work ahead of them, co-chairs Buschatzke and Cooke said. When it completes Arizona’s piece of the new DCP, it must go to the state Legislature for approval, then to the federal Bureau of Reclamation, and finally the U.S. Congress and the president. 

Guiding principles to stay focused 

At the kick-off meeting last week, Buschatzke and Cooke laid out the guiding principles. All were developed from input from committee members and other water interests.

The initial draft of guiding principles include: 

• Respect existing “Law of the River” framework including existing rights, contracts and priorities

• Seek Basin-wide solutions with burdens shared across the Basin, not just by Arizona

• Focus on long-term sustainability including addressing the structural deficit, recognizing that conservation and supply augmentation are part of the long-term solution

• Arizona tribes are a vital component within the Arizona discussion

• Continue to collaborate with Mexico as part of the process

• No marketing of unused water

• No marketing of Arizona water out of state

• Arizona legislative leaders need to continue to be part of the discussion

To read more about Arizona’s role and work in shoring up the Colorado River, go to: ADWR and CAP websites.

Arizona’s new Reconsultation Committee 

Co-chairs

Tom Buschatzke, Arizona Department of Water Resources

Ted Cooke, Central Arizona Project 

Municpal water providers 

Kathryn Sorensen, Phoenix Water 

Timothy Thomure, Tucson Water 

Brian Biesemeyer, Scottsdale Water 

Gretchen Erwin, Goodyear Public Works 

Joe Gysel, EPCOR Water US 

Fred Schneider, Arizona Water Company 

Joe Olsen, Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement District

Gary Watson, member, Mohave County Board of Supervisors

Agriculture

Attorney Paul Orme, Pinal County 

Attorney Wade Noble, Yuma 

Shane Leonard, general manager, Roosevelt Water Conservation District 

Billy Elkins, president, Arizona Cattlemen’s Association 

Stefanie Smallhouse, president, Arizona Farm Bureau

Brian Wong, Pima County agriculture/ Southern Arizona Water Users Association 

Home builders/development 

Spencer Kamps, Home Builders Association of Central Arizona 

David Godlewski, Southern Arizona Home Builders Association

Cheryl Lombard, Valley Partnership

Ted Maxwell, Southern Arizona Leadership Council

Courtney Coolidge, Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry 

Indian tribes 

Chairman Dennis Patch, Colorado River Indian Tribes 

Chairman Ned Norris, Jr., Tohono O’odham Nation

Attorney Jason Hauter, Gila River Indian Community 

Industrial

Sandra Fabritz, Freeport-McMoRan 

Miscellaneous

David Roberts, Salt River Project 

Virginia O’Connell, Arizona Water Banking Authority

Laura Grignano, Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District

NGO 

Kevin Moran, Walton Family Foundation 

Central Arizona Water Conservation District 

Lisa Atkins, board president

Karen Cesare, member 

Legislative Leadership 

Rep. Rusty Bowers

Rep. Rosanna Gabaldon

Rep. Gail Griffin

Sen. Sine Kerr

Sen. Lisa Otondo

Governor’s Office 

Chuck Podolak

United States Bureau of Reclamation

Leslie Meyers