Those tougher negotiations to assure the long-term sustainability of Arizona’s Colorado River supply start now. Working together, Arizona is ready for them.

It didn’t take long for the completion of the Drought Contingency Plan to create value to Arizona and the Colorado River Basin.

Small water providers are feeling the pressure to upgrade equipment and infrastructure under terms of the state’s Drought Contingency Plan.

The Colorado River in Arizona is an integral part of our communities, history and cultural heritage, and our way of life. We all have a moral obligation to take care of our natural resources and protect God’s creation. As we face a future of diminished water supplies we need to ask each other and those who govern to embrace an ethic of planning and collaboration to lead us into a sustainable water future for our families and future generations.

President Trump on Tuesday signed the plan outlining how Arizona and other Colorado River basin states will divide up the limited water that’s now available.

With another deadline missed Monday, the head of the Bureau of Reclamation is now looking for the governors in the states in the Colorado River basin to tell her what they think she should do to keep water levels from dropping even lower.

The Imperial Irrigation District wants $200 million for the Salton Sea, a massive, briny lake in the desert southeast of Los Angeles created when the Colorado River breached a dike in 1905 and flooded a dry lake bed.

The Gila River Indian Community will provide the promised 500,000 acre feet of water for the state's drought contingency plan after being assured that legislation the tribe opposed is dead.

After House Speaker Rusty Bowers created a kerfuffle by pushing a bill that threatened to tank Arizona’s efforts to sign onto a multi-state drought plan and craft a similar intrastate plan, he asked at the last minute for the contentious proposal to be held.

The Colorado River is entrusted to us and is a vital source of water, life, and economic prosperity, but we must take care of it in return. Protecting the river and the water it provides will require us to develop resilient solutions that reduce water consumption and efficiently share the river’s waters.