CA farmers agree to conserve 100,000 acre-feet of Lake Mead water in exchange for compensation

Southern California has agreed to conserve enough water in Lake Mead to support upwards of 300,000 single family homes for a year under an agreement struck with the federal government.

On Friday, the Biden Administration announced they will pay the Imperial Irrigation District — the Colorado River’s largest water user — an estimated $77.6 million to conserve 100,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead this year, equivalent to a third of Nevada’s total annual water allocation from the reservoir. 

“100,000 acre feet will probably end up being about half of the amount of water that we’re going to consume from Lake Mead here in Las Vegas this year,” said Bronson Mack, the public outreach manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Water from the California district is used to irrigate nearly half a million acres of farmland in the Imperial Valley, just north of the Mexico border. Federal water managers hope the plan will raise Lake Mead’s elevation by one and a half feet while making farmers, who are most affected by the cuts, financially whole.

Under the agreement, the compensation for water conserved by farmers in the district comes out to $776 per acre-foot.

In a unanimous vote on Friday, the Imperial Irrigation District’s board voted to approve the complicated agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which is dependent on simultaneous agreements with numerous other Southern California agencies. 

“We are grateful for the Imperial Irrigation District’s leadership and partnership as we worked to execute this agreement,” said Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton in a statement. “IID’s commitment to system conservation is vital as we work to strengthen the stability of the entire Colorado River Basin.”

As part of the agreement, the Imperial Irrigation District pledged to conserve a total of 800,000 acre-feet of system water over the next three years to shore-up elevations in Lake Mead.

The agreement is the latest in a series of commitments by Nevada, California, and Arizona to collectively reduce water use by at least 3 million acre-feet through the end of 2026, when the Colorado River’s current operating guidelines are set to expire.

Last week, the San Diego County Water Authority agreed to leave 50,000 acre-feet of conserved water in the Colorado River, enough to support 150,000 single-family homes. Those 50,000 acre-feet of conserved water will account for half of the Imperial Irrigation District’s target of 1000,000 acre-feet. Arizona also recently pledged to conserve up to 348,680 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead in 2023, and up to 984,429 acre-feet through 2026, in exchange for hefty federal funds.

Nevada has committed to keeping 280,000 acre-feet in Lake Mead through the next four years. Southern Nevada is on track to have the lowest water use year since the early 1990’s, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Those conservation efforts combined with a heavy snowpack last year will keep water levels in Lake Mead and the greater Colorado stable over the next three years, say water managers. As of December, Lake Mead is about 40 feet higher than it was projected to be at this time last year, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.

But state water managers also warn that one good water year is not enough to ensure the long-term viability of the river amid a drier future exacerbated by climate change.

“This is a needed additive to the benefit that Lake Mead has already received from a wet winter. We need to continue to push that forward in the years ahead, reducing demand and keeping more water in Lake Mead so that that water is available for future water deliveries in years to come,” said Mack, the public outreach manager for the Southern Nevada Water Authority.

Decades of drought have decimated water levels in the country’s two largest man-made reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Water deliveries and power production at the Hoover Dam were at risk last year, after Lake Mead fell too near critical levels. 

Conservation groups echoed concerns about the long-term viability of the Colorado River, despite the agreements to massive water cuts by Nevada, California, and Arizona. 

Kyle Roerink, the executive director of the Great Basin Water Network, said the Colorado River’s dwindling water supplies won’t be able to support reservoir elevations, cities, rural communities and environmental needs in the West forever.

“This is the noxious reality of the Colorado River: Rural communities will face major impacts to prop up reservoirs as we continue to grapple with over-consumption of our most precious resource,” Roerink said. “Water conservation isn’t a zero sum game. Folks and wildlife living on the margins will continue to breathe the consequences of feeding sprawl and growth in big cities.”

Legislation passed under President Biden made it possible to fund conservation efforts on the Colorado River on a scale not seen in decades. 

Earlier this year, Congress approved $4 billion for Colorado River and other western drought resiliency projects from the Inflation Reduction Act. The Bureau of Reclamation is using funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to invest another $8.3 billion over five years for water infrastructure projects, including water purification and reuse, water storage and conveyance, desalination and dam safety.

“The Biden-Harris administration is using every tool and resource at our disposal to continue our sustained, collaborative progress in increasing water conservation across the West,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Michael Brain.

Editor note: This article was updated to clarify that the Imperial Irrigation District would conserve a total of 800,000 acre-feet of water over four years – not an additional 800,000 acre-feet.