BOR proposes Water Cuts:

While Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo pushes water-consuming data center growth, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) proposes to cut up to 3 million acre‑feet of Colorado River water annually from Arizona, California, and Nevada over the next ten years.

In July 2026, BOR, under acting Commissioner Scott J. Cameron, released their “temporary” final environmental impact statement (EIS) for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, covering 10 years after states failed to agree on a replacement for the 2007 guidelines, which expire this year.

The Colorado River supplies water to about 40 million people in seven U.S. states, 29 tribes, and 4 million acres of farmland. Since 2000, prolonged drought has lowered Lake Powell and Lake Mead to record-low levels, threatening hydropower, water deliveries, and ecosystems, according to Drought.gov.

The Final EIS marginally differs from earlier approaches by emphasizing an adaptive management framework, which means that instead of a single fixed set of operating rules for the next decade, BOR administrators will adjust decisions based on current reservoir conditions, runoff forecasts, scientific monitoring, and observed impacts, with the ability to adjust operations as conditions change.

In the past, traditional BOR management set guidelines such as “If Lake Mead reaches Elevation X, release Y acre-feet.” Under adaptive management, guidelines would rely on “current data, forecasts, and agreed decision criteria to determine the best release this year, then reassess next year.”

The old Colorado River operating rules assumed that the river’s long-term average flow was roughly 15 million acre-feet (MAF) per year. And over the past two decades, however, average natural flows have often been closer to 12–13 MAF, with substantial year-to-year variability. Bureau personnel concluded that a rigid operating system designed around historical hydrology is less reliable under today’s conditions; therefore, it recognized that climate conditions are changing, runoff forecasts are uncertain, reservoir storage fluctuates, water demand remains high, and operating rules may need periodic adjustment.

While Cameron and his colleagues at BOR pushed agreed decisions under the adaptive management framework in the EIS, they say that preventing collapse of Lake Powell and Lake Mead requires :

• Cuts up to 3 million acre‑feet/year in Lower Basin states (Arizona, California, Nevada) during dry years — nearly double the 1.6 Maf/year proposed by those states in May 2026 while,
• Requiring no mandatory cuts for Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and
• Adjusting Lake Powell releases ranging from – 12 million acre-feet (Maf) adjusted every two years based on hydrology while,
• Proposing flexibility to adapt to changing conditions while keeping room for future state agreements and admitting that,
• The approach could raise water prices, increase groundwater use, reduce agriculture, and trigger conservation mandates 

The weakness, of course, comes in the “agreed decision criteria” in a temporary framework while states continue negotiations for a long-term, consensus-based agreement. And, of course, lawsuits from states could challenge anything.

In the meantime, agreed decisions or not, the BOR will issue new operating guidelines for 2027–2028 and update plans every two years.

Meanwhile, as states continue to push growth and add water-consuming data centers, supported by Nevada Governor Jo Lombardo at taxpayer expense, the 2026 federal drought plan pushes cuts on Lower Basin states while arguing for flexibility in future Drought Contingency Plan efforts.