New CAP manager weighs in on Colorado River water supply, current challenges
Brenda Burman started her role this year as important negotiations are beginning.
PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) - While Arizona is getting a small break regarding cuts to our Colorado River water supply next year, some big negotiations are just beginning.
The wet winter last year gave Arizona some stability when it comes to our Colorado River water supply, according to Brenda Burman, but it’s not a long-term solution. She began her role as the general manager of the Central Arizona Project this year. The CAP is a more than 300-mile-long system of tunnels, pipelines and more that delivers Colorado River water to nearly 6 million people in our state. It brings water through Maricopa County and down to Tucson. It took about 20 years to build.
The water Arizona is getting next year from the Colorado River is based on guidelines that were set back in 2007, but Burman says those rules will expire in 2026. That means the states that rely on Colorado River water, including Arizona, will work together with the federal government to come up with new guidelines surrounding how much water each state will get.
Burman thinks this is a big deal and she says we can’t expect just one party to cut back. She feels all of the water users need to come to the table with solutions. “I think we’re all going to have to learn to live with less water. We have a smaller river. And in order to be reliable, to be stable, every party that relies on the Colorado River is going to have to learn to live with less,” she said. “But there are investments we can make. There’s infrastructure that can be built to make this an easier thing to do.”
Within the last few weeks, Burman says Arizona officials have submitted letters to the feds about what it’s proposing. Next December, she’s expecting a first draft from the feds. Burman says this will be a very public process and you’ll get to weigh in along the way.
In August, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced Arizona will be moving from a Tier II shortage back to a Tier I in 2024. Arizona is now facing an 18% cut in our Colorado River water supply instead of a 21% cut in 2024.
While this may be positive news, Burman explains most people won’t notice a difference as cities and the state continue to conserve. “So many Arizonans have signed up to conserve water and to hold that water back so we can have more stability and reliability in the future,” she recently told Arizona’s Family. “That includes tribes. That includes all of our major cities. But by doing that, it means even though we’ll have a slightly better water supply in 2024, most of that water is already taken. That water is already pledged for conservation.”
As Arizona faces a decades-long drought and a smaller Colorado River, Arizona’s Family asked Burman what the biggest challenge is as she begins her tenure. “Our biggest challenge is that there are some who don’t want to admit that this river is smaller. And many say, ‘I have rights from 120 years ago. No one can touch my rights.’ But when we look forward, if everyone says that and no one is willing to compromise, this river and Lake Mead will drop, and drop, and drop, and we’ll all be in trouble.”
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