Farm Bill and Water For the first time in history, the federal government may intercede and impose restrictions on the water withdrawal by states in the Colorado River basin. The draft plan would reduce allocations to Arizona, California, and Nevada, likely spreading the pain evenly. The move came shortly after former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said his former agency should look at using emergency authorities to cut Colorado river basin water allocations to agriculture. The shortage allocation model released as part of the proposal does not mention agriculture, though the sector uses 80 percent of the Colorado River’s water. The White House goal is to force the states involved to arrive at an agreement rather than force a polit...