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PAGE, AZ (AZFamily) — Retired Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould says he is worried that any plan to solve the crisis facing the shortage of water in the Colorado River will end up bogged down in courts.
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“As a lawyer, I can tell you I think the courts are not the way to solve the problem,” said Gould.
Gould is a longtime attorney and former justice who also works on water cases. He says the challenge in finding a solution to the Colorado River crisis is that it is legally complex and there are so many parties that rely on the river’s water.
Arizona and six other states have been negotiating a new agreement over how much water each state, city, farming community and Indian tribe should be entitled to, with the new reality of a drier climate and less water flowing down the Colorado.
The Bureau of Reclamation is expected to announce a short-term plan by Friday. Gould says if the parties challenge a plan in court, it could create bigger problems down the road.
“It’s too big of a problem. It’s too complex of a problem, and it’s going to take a long, long time to work its way through the courts,” he said.
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Right now, the water level at Lake Powell is just 33 feet above the level where the Glen Canyon Dam would be unable to produce electricity. It is dangerously close to what is known as deadpool, where the water level is below the drainage tubes on the dam. That would result in the Colorado River running dry, at least temporarily.
Gould said this problem is so great and so pressing that only the President and Congress would have the authority and stature to force the interested parties to come to a lasting agreement.
“That can, in my view, only come from the federal government and I would love to see the President lead on that,” said Gould.
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