Publication: L.A. Times

UCLA Expert: James Salzman:  Professor, Environmental Law, UCLA School of Law

Synopsis: Seven states are currently fighting over the water of the Colorado River. 

UCLA News: Salzman says the original Compact made the “fateful decision” to divide up water for the river’s lower-basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada in absolute quantities instead of percentages. That means upper-basin states are obligated to deliver 7.5 million acre-feet per year to the lower states, no matter what, which “turned out to be a tragically bad design,” Salzman said. He added that the likely outcome of the impasse is federal intervention followed by litigation. “They’re basically stepping outside the Law of the River, because the Law of the River does not clearly provide for how to reduce 2 million acre feet,” Salzman said. “On the other hand, the Law of the River is why we’re in this mess in the first place.”

Read more at L.A. Times.