Colorado River deal provides temporary relief, but long-term solution needed.

A proposed deal for California, Arizona, and Nevada to take less water from the over-tapped Colorado River depends heavily on $1.2 billion in federal funds, which will pay farmers and others who agree to give up some of their supply over the next three years. But experts say much larger reductions will be needed in the coming years to close the gap between water supply and demand, and to adapt to diminishing flows due to climate change. The agreement offers a stopgap solution to prevent reservoirs from reaching critically low levels, while leaving the region’s water managers with difficult questions to resolve when they negotiate a long-term plan for reducing use after 2026.