The seven Colorado River basin states, including Wyoming, missed a Tuesday federal deadline to reach a preliminary agreement on managing the river’s dwindling water supply.
Even so, there could be one last chance. In June, when the Nov. 11 deadline was set for a preliminary agreement, the Department of Interior also demanded a final agreement by mid-February 2026.
So, now representatives from the states and federal officials are placing their bets on a consensus being reached by then.
If not, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum might be forced to decree a new set of operating plans for the river, regardless of what the states want.
The main point of friction is between the Upper Basin states and Lower Basin states. The Upper Basin includes Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. The Lower Basin includes Arizona, Nevada and California.
The Lower Basin States say they’ve been doing their part to cut back on water use. But the Upper Basin states argue that the Lower Basin is still hogging too much water. And that’s not leaving enough for things such as irrigating crops in Wyoming’s upper Green River and Little Snake River basins.
The states and the Department of Interior reached a series of agreements for water use operations, starting in 2007. But those agreements all expire in 2026, meaning a new operations plan must be drawn up.
And that hinges on the states either reaching a consensus, or the federal government handing one down.
Negotiations Continue
With the November deadline missed, the states plan to keep meeting weekly, with the February hard deadline looming, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Wyoming’s representative is state engineer Brandon Gebhart.
He confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that Wyoming will remain engaged in the talks and also pointed to a joint statement released by the Department of Interior, the Bureau of Reclamation and the state’s representatives.
The statement acknowledges the “serious and ongoing challenges facing the Colorado River” brought on by “prolonged drought and low reservoir conditions.”
“While more work needs to be done, collective progress has been made that warrants continued efforts to define and approve details for a finalized agreement. Through continued cooperation and coordinated action, there is a shared commitment to ensuring the long-term sustainability and resilience of the Colorado River system,” according to the statement.
Geringer: This All Sounds Familiar
Disputes over water are as old as settlement in the West, former Wyoming governor Jim Geringer told Cowboy State Daily.
“The way things evolved in the West, we either fought over it physically, or fought over it through litigation,” said Geringer, who served as governor from 1995 to 2003.
“Lawsuits were a more civilized way than meeting a man at a headgate with a gun,” he added.
Water rights distribution and infrastructure operations along the Colorado River were established through the Colorado River Compact in 1922.
Though some argue that the compact is dated, it’s allowed the states to avoid major litigation over water, so far, Geringer said.
“The Colorado River is a standalone as a major river drainage, in that it hasn’t been litigated,” he said.
During his tenure, squabbles over the river were much the same as they are now. Everything hinged on everybody getting what they needed, on a continually dwindling supply.
The salinity of the water was a hot topic back then, he said.
Water left sitting in ponds tended to evaporate down, and develop high levels of salinity before it was sent downstream.
In Wyoming, more efficient center-pivot sprinkler irrigation systems helped mitigate that.
“Wyoming was able to demonstrate how to reduce salinity, or to do our part to reduce salinity,” he said.
Negotiations Are Better
Wyoming did almost get dragged into a major water lawsuit during Geringer’s tenure; with Nebraska over the Platte River.
However, he and the Nebraska governor were able to settle that through face-to-face negotiations.
Geringer said that negotiations between the Colorado River states’ governors might help lead the way out of the current crisis.
“The last straw, before you litigate would be to see if you can renegotiate the compact, in terms of water allocations between the Upper Basin and Lower Basin,” he said.
One point where there might be some give would be alfalfa crops used to feed dairy cattle in the Lower Basin, Geringer said.
Alfalfa is a thirsty crop, and states like Arizona might be better off getting it from other states, perhaps even Wyoming, rather than trying to grow their own, he said.
An agreement that can be drawn up through governors and other representatives of the states would be preferable to a top-down decision from the Department of Interior, he said.
A broad, top-down decree probably can’t cover all the needs at the local level, that vary from place to place, Geringer said.
Trying To Do More With Less
Jen Lamb, the Wyoming representative for the Nature Conservancy, agreed that ground-level solutions and negotiations between states are a much better alternative to waiting for the federal government to decide for everybody.
“The attitude that people in Wyoming have is, ‘let’s figure this out,’” she told Cowboy State Daily.
Even though negotiations between the states have been tense, “we’re not really battling each other,” Lamb said.
“What we’re really battling is changing hydrology, and a lot less water in the system than we were anticipating when the compact was first written in 1922,” she said.
While a general solution might seem elusive at present, Wyoming can keep doing what it can make its water use more efficient, she said.
“What I do know is that Wyoming has been working really hard for more than a decade to make sure we're prepared to do what we need to do with less water,” Lamb said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
