After long and difficult negotiations, the Biden administration on Monday announced a “historic” agreement between seven western US states to protect the Colorado River, which provides water to tens of millions of people but is shrinking due to global warming, AFP reports.

“Representatives from seven states in the Colorado River basin have agreed to submit a proposal for a lower watershed protection system,” the US Department of the Interior, which administers the area, said in a statement.

The winning proposal came from the three lower basin states – California, Nevada and Arizona – which agreed to voluntarily take measures to conserve 3.7 billion cubic meters of water by 2026.

Some of those savings will be “offset with funds from the Inflation Reduction Act,” the major climate law passed in Washington last year, the statement said.

The Colorado is the most important and largest river in southwestern North America. The length of the river is 2,333 km, the catchment area is 703,132 km².

The Biden administration has threatened to introduce far-reaching restrictions if negotiations between the states remain at an impasse.

Interior Minister Deb Haaland said on Monday that the announcement was “proof” of the government’s “commitment” to “finding consensus solutions to climate change and persistent drought”.

The agreement was the result of “months of tireless work,” Arizona Gov. Kathy Hobbs said in a separate statement. “Now we have a way to fill our tanks in a short period of time. From now on, our work must continue to act and address the long-term challenge of climate change.”

“Significant reductions” in water use to save the Colorado River

The Colorado River provides water for approximately 40 million people from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California in Mexico and irrigates millions of acres of farmland to feed America.

Years of drought, exacerbated by climate change and increased water demand, have reduced the once-rushing river to threatening levels.

So much so that reservoirs and hydroelectric dams along its course are now under threat.

In particular, last summer Lake Mead reached its lowest level since 1937.

Last year, the federal government called on seven western states (along with Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico) to agree to cut consumption by up to 40 percent of the river’s runoff.

Six states proposed imposing most of those restrictions on California, which disagreed with the plan and then counter-offered, suggesting the cuts would be mostly at the top.

The system, which for more than a century has regulated the distribution of river water based on seniority, favors farmers in California, the most populous state in the United States.

California has taken matters into its own hands, pledging to “significantly reduce water use,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.

“The entire western United States is on the front lines of climate change — we must work together to address this crisis,” he added.