Alternatives Development

The Post-2026 process is a multi-year National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process to determine long-term operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead after the expiration of existing operating agreements in 2026. The alternatives development phase of the process began in fall 2023 and concluded at the end of 2024. The alternatives will continue to be refined through input from partners and stakeholders as we further develop the draft environmental impact statement (EIS).

Alternatives Report

On January 17, 2025, Reclamation published the Alternatives Report to document the alternatives that were publicly released on November 20, 2024, and are anticipated to be carried forward in the draft EIS for the ongoing Post-2026 Colorado River Operations NEPA process. The alternatives identified in the report provide a reasonable and broad range of Colorado River operations that capture an appropriate range of potential environmental impacts from implementing new operational guidelines post-2026. The report also describes, in general terms, the process undertaken by Reclamation to develop the alternatives, provides a detailed description of the operational elements for each alternative, and compares the operational elements across each alternative.

Releasing Reclamation’s intended approach to the alternatives in advance of publishing the draft EIS enhances transparency and public understanding of this important NEPA process and provides greater opportunities for collaboration. Information submitted following the November 20, 2024 publication of the alternatives has not been considered in this report. Reclamation will continue its efforts working with Colorado River Basin partners and stakeholders and will analyze information submitted after November 20, 2024. Additionally, Reclamation will also prepare the environmental impact analysis for the draft EIS.

The five anticipated alternatives are:

• No Action Alternative
• Federal Authorities Alternative
• Federal Authorities Hybrid Alternative
• Cooperative Conservation Alternative
• Basin Hybrid Alternative

The Alternatives Report can be viewed here.

Alternatives Development Approach

Beginning in March 2024, proposed concepts for alternatives were submitted by Basin partners and stakeholders (submittals are posted below). Since that time, Reclamation worked extensively with submitters to not only understand and gather additional information, but also to model and perform detailed preliminary analyses of proposals that contained sufficient detail and information to be potentially included as a full alternative.

Throughout the alternatives development phase, Reclamation had over 60 meetings with states, Tribes, and other partners to review and discuss their input as part of efforts to develop a reasonable and broad range of alternatives and to make progress towards building consensus-based, long-term, and sustainable river operations.

Reclamation’s preliminary modeling results of the proposals that contained sufficient detail and information to be potentially included as a full alternative were also presented during a public webinar in October 2024.

On November 20, 2024, the Bureau of Reclamation published the range of alternatives planned for analysis in the draft EIS and committed to providing additional information in a subsequent report (see above).

Central to Reclamation’s collaboration with entities on proposed alternative concepts was the development of a web-based Post-2026 Operations Exploration Web Tool. The tool is a result of decades of collaborative research and development and is designed to enable users with different levels of technical skill to explore, create, and compare potential operating strategies using a common platform to enhance the development of alternatives. While the more than 300 operational strategies developed and explored by stakeholders and the public in the web tool are not considered as officially submitted alternatives, they informed Reclamation’s design of alternatives.

Received Alternatives Input

Beginning in early 2024, Reclamation received input from Basin partners and stakeholders with proposals and considerations for alternatives. Submissions received through November 20, 2024, are included below by date received and submitter.

• March 5, 2024 - Colorado River Upper Division State Representatives of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming
• March 6, 2024 - The Colorado River Basin States Representatives of Arizona, California, and Nevada
• March 6, 2024 - Central Arizona Water Conservation District, Southern Nevada Water Authority, and The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California
• March 29, 2024 - National Audubon Society, Western Resource Advocates, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, American Rivers, The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund, and Trout Unlimited
• March 29, 2024 - Center for Colorado River Studies, Eric Kuhn, and Utton Center, University of New Mexico School of Law
• March 29, 2024 - Gila River Indian Community
• April 29, 2024 - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service
• May 8, 2024 - City of Phoenix
• May 16, 2024 - Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Tonto Apache Tribe, Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, Pueblo of Zuni Tribe, Gila River Indian Community, Yavapai-Apache Nation, Ak Chin Indian Community, Ute Indian Tribe, Jicarilla Apache Nation, Yavapai-Prescott Indian Tribe, Hualapai Tribe, Las Vegas Tribe of Paiute, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, San Carlos Apache Tribe, Chemehuevi Tribe, White Mountain Apache Tribe, and Pasqua Yaqui Tribe
• June 3, 2024 - Department of Energy, Western Area Power Administration, Colorado River Storage Project
• November 12, 2024 - Colorado River Indian Tribes