(Los Angeles) After long and difficult negotiations, a “historic” agreement was announced Monday by the Biden administration between seven states in the American West concerning the protection of the Colorado River, whose flow is dwindling as it supplies water to tens of millions of people.
“Representatives of the seven states in the Colorado River Basin have agreed to the submission of a proposal for a Lower Basin Protection System,” said the Department of the Interior, which is responsible for land management in the states. -United.
The winning proposal comes from the three lower basin states — California, Nevada and Arizona — which agreed to voluntarily take action to save 3.7 billion cubic meters of water by 2026.
The Biden administration had threatened sweeping restrictions if negotiations remained deadlocked.
This announcement is “proof” of the government’s “commitment” to “find consensus solutions in the face of climate change and persistent drought”, said Minister Deb Haaland.
The Colorado River supplies some 40 million people with water from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California, Mexico, and irrigates millions of acres of arable land to feed America.
Many years of drought, compounded by climate change and an increase in water demand, have reduced the once rushing river to worrying levels.
So much so that the reservoirs and hydroelectric dams along its course are now threatened.