LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — In what some are calling a historic agreement, Colorado River Basin stakeholders out of California on Wednesday announced a pact to conserve up to 643,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Mead through 2025.
Camille Calimlim Touton, commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, said Wednesday that officials at the federal government level understand the importance of water cuts.
The deal was disclosed during the annual Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas.
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Included in the pact is $295 million in new investments from the federal government. The move is expected to help conserve water throughout the basin, which includes Nevada, California, and five other states.
"The wet winter we had this year, plus these three years of conservation agreements, it's going to protect the elevation [of Lake Mead]," says J.B. Hamby, chairman of the Colorado River Board of California.
As part of the deal announced in Las Vegas, the feds will kick in nearly $300 million toward to conservation effort in California.
"We're seeing the changing hydrology," she said. "This past winter proved to give us a reprieve, but the fact remains that we need to keep working."
