The Colorado River Compact
The Colorado River Compact[1], while impressive in intent, has been hobbled by a differing patchwork of states water rights, many based on systems of senior and junior rights, and a commitment to states’ rights that limits the effectiveness of any agreement and increases the difficulty of achieving that agreement. Australia with fewer states and a more coherent systems of water rights has an opportunity to better manage water in a drying climate and provide for the environment.
National water mechanism
There are many learnings to be had from the Colorado River Compact, not the least of which is the cost of not having national mechanisms through which to manage water, which knows no borders. Water does not distinguish itself into ground water and surface water, a reality that was recognized by the Nevada Supreme Court in January 2024[2]. However there has been a tendency to ignore the connection and preference surface waters over groundwater and over aquifer flows. The thinking in the Supreme Court decision is worth considering in the NWI and continue and extend the thinking around the importance of the connection – or unity – of surface and groundwater in the 2004 National Water Agreement.
Indigenous rights to water
The Colorado River Compact and its iterations encapsulate the importance of realising indigenous rights[3] and the importance of assuming that these are not the same as environmental water. Environmental water and indigenous cultural and economic water must be additional to each other. American tribes are flagging their intent to use their water for economic purposes.
The Colorado River Compact and the Murray Darling Basin Plan
The Colorado River Compact deals with the same issues that occur in Australia between upstream and downstream states, which has been highlighted by the Murray Darling Basin. In both basins negotiations would have been easier if there was more national consistency in laws and policy across each jurisdiction.
[1] Colorado River Compact – Wikipedia
[2] Lower White River Flow System Supreme Court Ruling – DocumentCloud
[3] On its 100th birthday, the Colorado River Compact shows its age – High Country News (hcn.org)
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