IN FOCUS - June 5 2026

Good news on the water front? Potentially.

There were encouraging signs this week when Lower Basin states, major utilities and federal officials gathered in Carlsbad, California. The parties signed an MOU to make greater use of ocean water via an area desalination plant, and ease reliance on the dwindling Colorado River.

The plant is operated by the San Diego County Water Authority. The MOU is likely to lead to more concrete discussions about a future water trade of sorts. That may potentially involve Arizona and Nevada purchasing water from the facility, which would be kept locally in California in exchange for the two inland states getting greater access to Colorado River water. MOU signers include: the Arizona Department of Water Resources; Central Arizona Project; Salt River Project; Metropolitan Water District of Southern California; Southern Nevada Water Authority; and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

One problem: desalinated water is expensive. Reportedly, water from the facility costs about $3,500/acre-foot - nearly 10X the price of CAP water currently distributed across metro Phoenix and Tucson. Desperate times …

Western states reliant on the Colorado River are in a race against time as the feds could announce as early as this month cuts that slash up to 40% of the current allocation to Arizona, California and Nevada - with the Grand Canyon State shouldering some of the steepest reductions. Upper and Lower Basin states have been unable to reach agreement on a new deal to keep Lake Mead from failing, and snowmelt across the region this spring was the worst in decades.