“The federal government and its Bureau of Reclamation – the agency responsible for managing the West’s complex system of reservoirs, rivers and dams – has legal

“The federal government and its Bureau of Reclamation – the agency responsible for managing the West’s complex system of reservoirs, rivers and dams – has legal authority over the lower basin but not the upper basin under the current law of the river” The upper basin (Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Wyoming) proposal puts mandatory cuts on the lower basin (California, Arizona and Nevada) and only voluntary cuts of unspecified amounts on themselves. “the lower basin plan would spread cuts ranging between 1.5 million to 3.9 million acre-feet across all seven states, plus the country of Mexico – which also uses river water.”