Group media availability: Understanding the new Colorado River framework

Thursday, August 6
5-6 p.m. ET

On July 31, the Bureau of Reclamation released a framework for the management of the Colorado River starting in 2027, including operations of Lake Powell and Lake Mead and plans for handling future water shortages across the seven Colorado River Basin states.  

On August 6, SciLine hosted two water experts for an on-the-record Q&A with reporters about water issues in the Colorado River watershed.

David Rosenberg

Dr. David Rosenberg, joint professor in civil and environmental engineering and the Utah Water Research Laboratory at Utah State University, and Sarah Porter, J.D., director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, will take questions about what the new framework means for water users across the Upper Basin (CO, NM, UT, and WY), Lower Basin (AZ, CA, and NV), Mexico, and Tribal Nations of the basin. Dr. Rosenberg is a co-author of two public comments on the draft environmental impact statement released in early 2026, and Sarah Porter serves on Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ Water Policy Council, tasked with managing state groundwater resources.

Sarah Porter

Rosenberg and Porter discussed topics including:

• The most important takeaways from the final Colorado River basin management framework;
• How water shortages will be managed between Upper and Lower Basin states in the new framework, unless the states reach an independent consensus;
• Whether the hydrology included in the final impact statement reflects the best available science; 
• How this plan compares to the draft plan released in January of 2026, previous Colorado River basin water sharing agreements, and the joint lower basin proposal released earlier this year; 
• How the new framework could impact agricultural production, recreation, water utilities, and ecosystems across the basin; and 
• When the new management framework becomes binding and what the next steps are for the states.