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A group of mayors representing western cities are calling for federal and state leaders to gather together to focus their efforts to address water shortages as climate change is sacrificed to the Colorado River and other important water sources.
The bipartisan group climate mayor outlined a series of proposals from the Trump administration and state government in a document released this week, saying federal and state engagement and financial support are essential for cities to advance solutions such as new infrastructure and water-saving initiatives.
“The Colorado River has been allocated for a much damper period than it is now,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, the current chairman of the Climate Mayor.
“All parts of the river system are affected by climate change, so we need to talk about the best ways to deal with these changes and how to spread the most intelligently,” Gallego said in an interview. “Our Western Mayors group believes this really needs to be a local, state and federal priority.”
The group urged the federal government to support additional funding for infrastructure projects, including efforts to recycle wastewater and acquire stormwater locally, and to maintain funding for various federal water programs.
The mayor noted that drought-related disasters are on the rise. The average Colorado River flow has been declining dramatically since 2000, and studies have shown that human-strapped climate change is a major contributor.
“The region faces serious challenges by portraying a new future and will require regional cooperation to move forward,” the group said in a document. “Current water usage levels and patterns in all sectors cannot be maintained in the face of increased water shortages due to climate change.”
Nearly 350 mayors across the country are part of the climate mayors. The policy proposal was developed by a group of mayors in the West and their representatives, among staff in Los Angeles, Culver City, Irvine and San Diego.
The mayor has called for the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Burial Service to “ensure sustainable management of the Colorado River system,” and said the ongoing negotiations on new rules to address the shortages since 2026 “should be based on the concept of permanent and proportional measures of all sectors of water use.”
The Colorado River provides water to cities from Denver to Los Angeles, and offers 30 native tribes and farmland from the Rocky Mountains to northern Mexico.
Representatives from seven river-dependent states are negotiating new rules to manage rivers since 2026, when current guidelines expire. However, the competing proposals left the speech stuck as a rift emerged between three states in the lower basin of the river, California, Arizona and Nevada, and four states: Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico.
Democrat Galego said water efforts in the Colorado River Basin are primarily bipartisan, and the mayor hopes bipartisan cooperation will continue.
“We are very hoping to see Washington, DC, and we have made this our number one priority,” Gallego said. “We need to do everything we can to further expand our existing supplies.”
She said she had not reached an agreement, but could lead to “large lawsuits along the river system and many paralysis.”
The federal government previously helped fund funding to support water conservation efforts, and the scientific and legal expertise that helped the area manage the rivers as well, Gallego said.
The Trump administration recently cut down staff at the Reclamation Bureau, which oversees water management in the West.
President Trump has appointed Ted Cook, who previously led the Central Arizona Project, as the new commissioner for the Bureau of Reclamation.
“I hope he works hard to bring all the stakeholders together so that he can make a lot of progress in negotiating the Colorado River,” Gallego said.
The federal government declared the first water shortage of the Colorado River in 2021. A series of subsequent agreements supported by the federal fund helped ensure temporary water savings. (For example, some farmers in California’s Imperial Valley are volunteering to participate in a federal funding program that supports growers who leave hay fields for part of the year.)
The slight snowfall in the Rocky Mountains this winter led to another reduction in runoff, increasing the risk of river depleted reservoirs dropping to very low levels.
Lake Powell, located on the Utah-Arizona border, is currently located at 34% of its capacity. Lake Meade, downstream near Las Vegas, is about 31%.
Presenting their proposal, the Climate Mayor promoted progress in cities, including Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas, reducing water use through conservation, water recycling and more local self-sufficiency. The city also reduced its water use by offering cash rebates to customers who remove thirsty lawns and targeting the elimination of purely decorative grasses.
The Colorado River supplies growing cities in Southern California and the southwest, but agriculture continues to be the dominant user of the river’s water, accounting for about three-quarters of the water that is being decoupled.
In their recommendations, the mayoral group asked state leaders to regularly convene representatives from agricultural water agencies, tribes and other entities to discuss goals and potential solutions.
“We believe there is still an opportunity to work together in a variety of areas that allow agriculture to be successful, but we also provide opportunities for cities,” Gallego said.
Mark Gold, director of Water Rare Solutions at the Natural Resources Defense Council, provided advice to the group that prepared the recommendations. He said the significant reductions in water use cities have achieved in recent years “indicates that agriculture is far behind in the future when it comes to sustainable water management.”
Gold said the implicit message behind the city’s proposals is calling for people representing the Agricultural Water Agency to participate in joint efforts to address the water shortages in the region.
“Success cannot be achieved without agriculture coming up with a sustainable and durable solution,” he said.
It is also important that the federal government begins to play a major role in helping it break the long impasse in interstate negotiations, Gold said.
“Anyone who was a student about what’s going on in the Colorado River system would say the federal government hasn’t expanded their authority,” he said. “And that leadership is extremely important.”
The proposal also highlights the city’s leaders’ interest in looking at federal funding for water projects, Gold said.
“Transforming the future of sustainable water management is not cheap,” he said.
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