Waterkeepers and Groups File Legal Petition to Save the Colorado River

LOS ANGELES — National water groups filed a petition today, asking the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to utilize its legal authority to stop waste of Colorado River water by users in California, Nevada, and Arizona.  

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), represented by the UCLA Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic, along with a coalition of Waterkeepers and other local advocacy groups, filed the petition.  

The petition requests that the Bureau exercise its authority to ensure that all its water deliveries to Colorado River Lower Basin users are “reasonably required for beneficial uses” and are not delivered for uses that are “unreasonable.” Under existing law, the Bureau has the authority and duty to limit its water deliveries to prevent unreasonable uses of water, as the petition lays out. 

“More than 40 million people in seven states rely on the overstressed Colorado River for their water supply, and the West can’t afford to continue to waste water unsustainably,” said Dr. Mark Gold, director of water scarcity solutions at NRDC. “The Bureau of Reclamation has the authority and obligation to stop the waste and protect this precious resource today and for future generations.”   

The petition also requests that the Bureau undertake a process with stakeholder input to define the phrase “reasonably required for beneficial use"; develop a robust, consistent and transparent process for determining whether Lower Basin water users are adequately avoiding wasteful, unreasonable uses of water; and require and perform periodic reviews of Lower Basin water users to ensure that all water deliveries are, in fact, being used reasonably. 

“This petition lays out how—under existing law, and by its own admission in federal court—the Bureau has a mandate to ensure that the water it delivers to California, Arizona, and Nevada is not squandered on unreasonable uses,” said Cara Horowitz, director of the Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic at UCLA School of Law. “The petition also makes clear that the Trump administration could take a few commonsense steps to come into compliance.” 

Currently, Arizona, Nevada, California and their water utilities with Colorado River water rights receive 100 percent of their allocations annually regardless of snowpack and river flow conditions.  

“Every region that depends on Colorado River water has a responsibility to use that water as efficiently as possible,” said Bruce Reznik, executive director of LA Waterkeeper. “By using the water that is already in the Los Angeles region judiciously—through local wastewater recycling, stormwater capture, and investments in efficiency—we can significantly reduce our demand for Colorado River water. That’s not only the right thing to do for the other people and wildlife that depend on this river for survival—it’s also the smart thing to do in light of the climate change impacts we’re already seeing on the Colorado River system.” 

The petition highlights examples of water waste, including excessive irrigation of purely ornamental turf in areas that routinely swelter in extreme heat, as well as inefficient industrial processes that use more water than needed due to outdated evaporative cooling systems. 

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Beijing and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd). 
 
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