Western states chart diverging paths as water shortages loom

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — As persistent drought and climate change threaten the Colorado River, several states that rely on the water acknowledge they likely won't get what they were promised a century ago.

But not Utah.

Republican lawmakers approved an entity that could push for more of Utah's share of water as seven Western states prepare to negotiate how to sustain a river serving 40 million people. Critics say the legislation, which the governor still must sign, could strengthen Utah's effort to complete a billion-dollar pipeline from a dwindling reservoir that's a key indicator of the river’s health.

Other states have had similar entities for decades, but Utah's timing raised questions about its commitment to conservation and finding a more equitable way of surviving with less.

“There’s a massive disconnect all centered around climate change,” said Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council, which opposed the legislation. “The other six basin states know the Colorado River is dropping, and they know they have to decrease their usage, while Utah is running around in this fantasy.”

The river supplies Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Mexico as well as a $5 billion-a-year agricultural industry. As the states face a dire environmental future and negotiations over a new plan to protect the waterway from drought, it's forced a shift in thinking.

The goal of renegotiating is figuring out how to use less, “not staking out political turf to try to figure out how to use more," said John Fleck, director of University of New Mexico’s Water Resources Program.

“It’s just not clear Utah has a willingness to do that,” he said.

The six members of the Colorado River Authority of Utah would oversee the state's...