By Brenda Burman, general manager
Today, the Central Arizona Project submitted comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for post-2026 Colorado River operations. Twenty-two Arizona cities and business organizations that rely on CAP’s entitlement to Colorado River water signed with us.
Our message is clear — all the alternatives disproportionately harm Arizona and are unacceptable. The DEIS alternatives threaten to tear apart a generation of careful water management and topple the architecture that supports American semi-conductor manufacturing, AI infrastructure industries, and critical mineral and agricultural production.
Arizona and our Lower Basin partners have already contributed 8.9 million acre feet of reductions to help save the Colorado River. This tremendous sacrifice has protected the entire Colorado River system – both Lake Mead and Lake Powell – and throughout the post-2026 negotiations we have repeatedly offered to do even more.
Now it’s time for everyone who shares the Colorado River to step up with real, mandatory and verifiable, reductions – not promises or best voluntary efforts.
In the meantime, we have respectfully asked the Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to withdraw the DEIS. It fails to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act and the Law of the River—the statutes, rules, and court decisions built over a century that govern the river’s operation; it violates CAP’s rights in the Colorado River; and it erroneously places the vast majority of the risk of a declining river on CAP water users.
If no agreement is reached among the parties, the United States must implement a decision that is consistent with the Colorado River Compact of 1922, the Law of the River and wise water policy.
“Our comments express our belief that operating guidelines for the Colorado River that are based on this flawed DEIS will lead to a Colorado River Compact call (violation) and possibly to litigation. We would prefer a consensus solution to avoid the courtroom, which is why we have asked that this DEIS be withdrawn.”
~CAWCD Board President Terry Goddard
“Arizona has been a good steward of its Colorado River water. We are experts at saving water and have conserved more river water than any other state. We have offered to do even more if there is shared risk among those across the Colorado River Basin. The DEIS is not only legally flawed, it ignores the severe harm any of the alternatives would cause in Arizona.”
~CAWCD Vice President Alex Arboleda