Colorado River Post 2026 Operations

Several reservoir and water management decisional documents and agreements that govern the operation of Colorado River facilities and management of the Colorado River are scheduled to expire at the end of 2026. These include the 2007 Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead (2007 Interim Guidelines), the 2019 Drought Contingency Plans, as well as international agreements between the United States and Mexico pursuant to the United States-Mexico Treaty on Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande (1944 Water Treaty).

The Post-2026 process will be a multi-year NEPA process that will identify a range of alternatives and determine operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead and other water management actions for potentially decades into the future. Given the scope of the task, and the conditions facing the Colorado River Basin, the Department believes it is important to begin this process as soon as possible to provide ample time for a thorough, inclusive, and science-based decision-making process to be completed before the end of 2026.

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Announcements and Events

• Reclamation provides an update on Post-2026 process and alternatives at Colorado River Water Users Association Meeting

  Dec. 5, 2024 Reclamation's Carly Jerla provided an update on Lake Powell & Lake Mead Operations Post-2026. View presentation

  

• Biden-Harris Administration Puts Colorado River on Path to Success

  Nov. 20, 2024 – Since Day One of the Biden-Harris administration, the Department of the Interior has led critical discussions over how to bring the Colorado River back from the brink of crisis in the face of a 24-year drought. Having achieved overwhelming success in 2023 on interim operation plans to guide operations through 2026 with a historic consensus agreement, and following more than a year of collaboration with the states and Tribes who call the Colorado River Basin home, the Biden-Harris administration today released the next step in a responsible path to guide post-2026 operations for the Colorado River. Read More →

  Alternative Development

• Colorado River Post 2026 Operations

  Status Update Webinar-Alternatives Development

  Reclamation held a webinar on Thursday, October 10, 2024, to provide a status update on the Post-2026 Process, including an overview of the ongoing work to develop NEPA alternatives.

  
  Webinar Presentation

• Integrated Technical Education Workgroup Session #6 - Web Tool Operational Paradigms and Uncertainties Follow Up; November 2, 2023

  This session describes the role of alternative paradigms in the Post-2026 Operations Exploration Tool (Web Tool) and explains the concepts and levers that can be combined into 48 customizable paradigms in the Web Tool strategy creation interface. It also reviews the approach to representing uncertainty in hydrology, demands, and initial conditions in Web Tool modeling and describes the specific inputs chosen for each category. The webinar materials are available for review.

• Scoping Summary Report, Purpose and Need, Proposed Federal Action

  Reclamation published a Federal Register Notice announcing the availability of the Scoping Summary Report for the Post-2026 Process. The Scoping Summary Report provides a summary of the comments received during the public scoping process and describes the Department’s current, preliminary assessment of the proposed federal action, purpose and need, and scope of the environmental analysis to be included in the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS). Read More →

• Biden-Harris Administration Advances Long-Term Planning Efforts to Protect the Colorado River System

  Oct. 10, 2023 – The Biden-Harris administration today announced next steps in the formal process to develop future operating guidelines and strategies to protect the stability and sustainability of the Colorado River system and strengthen water security in the West. The guidelines under development would be implemented in 2027, replacing the 2007 Colorado River Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead, which are set to expire at the end of 2026. Read More →

• Integrated Technical Education Workgroup Session #5 - Metrics, Tradeoffs, Robustness and Vulnerability; September 20, 2023

  This session features academic experts from University of Colorado, Boulder, who describe the specific DMDU approach being used in the post-2026 alternatives development process. It also provides information about how Reclamation will approach specific analytical components in the Post-2026 Web Tool. The webinar materials are available for review.

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If there are questions or you would like to submit a comment, please email: crbpost2026@usbr.gov.