A plan from water officials in Arizona, Nevada and California to cut back on the amount of water those states use from the Colorado River in exchange for money with hopes of saving 3 million acre-feet of water over three years is meeting conservation goals, a top water official said Wednesday. The 2023 agreement has already seen 1.7 million acres of improvement less than one year into the effort, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton said. She says she believes the states are on pace to reach their original goal. … A multidecade drought in the West intensified by climate change has increased the demand from the dwindling Colorado River supply that has been taxed by overuse. The 1,450-mile river provides water to 40 million people in seven U.S. states, parts of Mexico and two dozen Native American tribes. The Colorado River Basin is divided into two regions: Lower Basin states are Nevada, Arizona and California; Upper Basin states are Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

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