On October 28, 2024, the Upper Division States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, acting through the Upper Colorado River Commission (UCRC), approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Bureau of Reclamation to provide for provisional accounting of water conservation and other demonstration activities that generate water savings at Upper Basin Reservoirs. The MOU is an initial step for the Upper Division States and Reclamation to test their ability to account for such savings. Among other things, it describes how the Upper Division States will select water conservation and other demonstration activities in 2025 and 2026 as potentially generating water savings through State or federally funded programs. It also describes how the States and the Bureau of Reclamation will account for such savings. Additional agreements between the Upper Division States and the Bureau of Reclamation will be needed before the Upper Division States may receive credit for water savings that are accounted for under the MOU. A letter from the Upper Basin States to the Lower Basin States as well as the draft MOU and exhibit are linked below.
Upper Basin Response to Lower Basin Letter Re Provisional Accounting MOU Linked Here