Colorado River negotiations remain bogged down

• Arizona’s Colorado River negotiators say they are no closer to a deal • A newly proposed plan failed to gain traction with the Upper Basin states • If a deal isn’t made, the federal government could intervene

As a federally-imposed deadline looms for a deal in Colorado River negotiations, Arizona water officials say conversations are still not progressing.

The seven states that use Colorado River water are currently deadlocked in negotiations over how to share the river in the coming decades as its supply dwindles. New guidelines for sharing the river must be in place by Oct. 1, 2026, but the Department of the Interior has imposed a Nov. 11 deadline for the states to come to an agreement without federal intervention.

Arizona’s negotiators, along with those from its fellow Lower Ba