DENVER, July 26 — 260 million gallons. That is the figure that matters this week in the latest round of Colorado River wrangling: the amount of water a data center has requested from California’s share of the river. The request works out to about 798 acre-feet — a tiny fraction of the 4.4 million acre-feet California is entitled to each year.
But the bottom line, critics argue, is that every exemption chips away at the conservation intent written into the Colorado River Compact. By the numbers, the compact signed in 1922 apportioned 7.5 million acre-feet annually to both the Upper Basin (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico) and the Lower Basin (Arizona, California, Nevada).
Nearly a century later, the 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case Arizona v. California affirmed Congress’s authority to allocate water among the Lower Basin states and granted California its 4.4 million acre-feet. The 2007 Interim Guidelines, updated in 2019 with the Drought Contingency Plan, created tiered shortage reductions designed to cut use when reservoir levels drop.
Under Tier 1, triggered when Lake Mead falls below 1,075 feet, Arizona loses 320,000 acre-feet and Nevada loses 25,000 acre-feet. California’s allocation is exempt until Tier 3.
Since 2020, Lake Mead has remained below that 1,075-foot threshold.
The data center request
The 260-million-gallon ask (about 798 acre-feet) would be drawn from California’s Lower Basin share. Supporters point to the economic benefits and the relatively small volume. For context, Arizona’s annual Tier 1 loss alone — 320,000 acre-feet — is more than 400 times larger than the data center’s proposed use.
Critics, however, say the compact’s conservation goals are already under strain. Every exemption sets a precedent, they argue, that could lead to further erosion of the cuts needed to stabilise the river system.
Lake Mead — the key reservoir for the Lower Basin — has not recovered since dipping below the Tier 1 trigger in 2020. Investors will note that continued low levels could force deeper reductions or renegotiation of the 2007 guidelines.
What to watch next
The decision on the data center request rests with California water authorities. The Colorado River Basin states continue to wrangle over long-term operating rules to replace the current guidelines after 2026. Meanwhile, every exemption — large or small — tests the system’s ability to hold the line on conservation.
The numbers are clear: 7.5 million acre-feet per basin, 4.4 million for California, 1,075 feet as the trigger line. The data center’s 798 acre-feet may be minuscule by those river-scale figures, but the precedent is the part that matters.
Sources
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