Colorado River cuts smaller than they seem: 5 things to know

Here are five takeaways about the limited impact of these cuts and why that matters:

• Some outside experts are concerned this means the cuts won't be enough to save the ailing river or to prevent its large lakes, Powell and Mead, from falling to critically low levels. 
• This is even though the 10-year plan the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation approved late last month ultimately could reduce river use enough to put the Central Arizona Project canal system out of business. It still won't save enough water to end the river's chronic shortfalls between use and supply.
• And the two-year plan also approved by the bureau, aimed at stabilizing Lakes Powell and Mead, still won't save enough water to keep river flows or the lakes from declining further, some experts say.  
• In both cases, the starting point for the reductions is the amount of water the three states are legally entitled to — an amount that's higher annually than they've used since 2014. 
• But Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke said he believes the cuts will still be real because the programs under which the basin states and the CAP have previously cut their use — a drought plan and federally compensated cuts — will be going away starting next year. "The agreements under which conservation has been done will be gone. They're from the past. We'll be cutting from actual use. (Without the new cuts) we would be doing actual use as if the cuts haven’t been made," Buschatzke said.

To read the Arizona Daily Star's full story on this, including supporting numbers and river experts' analysis, click here.