Arizona, Nevada and California’s negotiators say they are close to a long-term deal that would stanch their use to bring it in line with the water that the river has delivered historically - a gap known as the “structural deficit.” But that just deals with the century-old over-allocation problem. Much of the tension now centers on whether the Upper Basin states should share in the cuts needed to bring water use in line with the shrinking supply.

But I want to be real clear that we can’t accept something that continues to drain the system, that puts 40 million people at risk,” said Becky Mitchell, the fiery lead negotiator for the state of Colorado who has objected to her state accepting reductions to its water use… “Ideally this is something that all seven basin states can come up with together.

Photo: Brent Gardner-Smith/Aspen Journalism And it poses a political dilemma for President Joe Biden, who could see the problem complicate his political calculations in a trio of swing states - Arizona, Nevada and Colorado - along with California, home to many of his most deep-pocketed donors…The tensions were apparent this week as negotiators here exchanged heated words from the podium in front of the hundreds of technocrats, tribes, and farmers who manage the river’s water and were gathered at a Las Vegas casino for their annual conference. The brawl unfolding among the states that rely on the West’s most important waterway will shape the economies for cities from Denver to Los Angeles as well as some of the nation’s most productive agricultural areas. Western states are on a collision course as they scramble to cut a deal to dramatically shrink their use of the drought-stricken Colorado River ahead of a March deadline from the Biden administration. Click the link to read the article on the Politico Website ( Annie Snider and Camille von Kaenel).

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