SALT LAKE CITY — As part of negotiations over the Colorado River, Utah and other states are proposing a "credit" for conservation.
It would allow them to bank the saved water for a time in the future when the water may be more necessary. The idea is being proposed by states in the Upper Basin of the Colorado River.
"For any conservation that we realize in the Upper Basin, we would like to make sure that we get credit for that conserved water," Amy Haas, the executive director of the Colorado River Authority of Utah, told FOX 13 News in an interview on Tuesday.
Haas detailed the proposal at a meeting of the authority's board. It would work like this: A farmer along the Colorado River conserves water and agrees to send it downstream to Lake Powell. It could either sit there in the reservoir or be used, but Utah and the farmer would get a "credit" for that conservation to use during a time when water becomes more scarce.
"Ultimately how we benefit down to the water user level is that we will stave off the potential for cuts in the future," Haas said. "If we are not complying with our compact obligations, water users will be confronted with what we call a curtailment, a reduction of uses. This is an insurance policy for them."
The agreement still has a lot of details to work out, including how to best track those savings and ensure the credit is applied. It also does not take into account hydrology. The river has seen declines as demand for its water has increased.
"That is precisely what we are struggling with in the Upper Basin is that year-to-year we experience shortage," Haas said. "So we can never commit to an actual figure in terms of conserved savings, right? We can’t commit to a certain number of acre feet in year X, because we just don’t know if Mother Nature will deliver that quantity of water."
But so far the agreement has tentative support from other states in the Upper Basin of the Colorado River and, Haas said, the federal government. Utah is among those offering it as a carrot in high-stakes negotiations over agreements governing the future of the Colorado River, which supplies water in the western United States to more than 40 million people. Utah is among seven states and Mexico with a stake in the river.
Local water districts were briefed on the concept at Tuesday's meeting.
"Very interesting idea, I'm very curious about it," said Zach Renstrom, the general manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District. "I’m nervous about the details, but I think it’s one of those things it could be a powerful tool moving forward."
The clock is ticking on the governing agreements for the Colorado River. They are set to expire in 2026. Gene Shawcroft, who is the Colorado River Commissioner for Utah and thus the state's negotiator, told FOX 13 News it is going slower than he hoped. But he added that is not necessarily a bad thing.
"We will end up with a deal that’s better than what we have now, take us into the future," he said.
This article is published through the Colorado River Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative supported by the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air at Utah State University. See all of our stories about how Utahns are impacted by the Colorado River at greatsaltlakenews.org/coloradoriver
