By admin 
YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — Mexico has agreed to voluntarily reduce its Colorado River water usage over the next two years, joining Arizona, California and Nevada in an effort to prop up dangerously low reservoirs at Lake Mead and Lake Powell.
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Under a temporary treaty amendment known as , Mexico will reduce its consumption by 250,000 acre-feet of water annually. The move comes as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation withholds 1.2 million acre-feet from the three Lower Basin states over the same two-year span.
Both Lake Mead and Lake Powell currently sit at approximately 27% capacity amid an enduring drought, leaving the river system in a critical state.
Water policy experts warn that while the international pact offers temporary relief, it does not resolve the long-term crisis facing the basin.
“The plan now — the Lower Basin plan plus Mexico — is probably around half of where we need to get to stabilize the reservoirs,” said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University.
Porter noted that annual demand across the basin must decrease by 3 million to 4 million acre-feet to achieve stability — roughly a quarter of the river system’s overall 15 million to 16 million acre-foot demand.
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“It is not likely enough to keep the reservoir levels stable,” Porter said. “The only thing that would be wrong about that would be if we had more than one year of extremely good snowpack.”
Beyond slowing the decline of reservoir storage, the agreement aims to protect environmental restoration efforts. Portions of the water will help sustain wetlands and river deltas in the Lower Colorado River that have previously run dry, supporting broader multi-agency initiatives across Arizona, California and Mexico.
Officials emphasized that without consecutive wet winters to replenish the watershed, deeper and more permanent conservation measures will be required across the region.
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