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Time is wasting. Arizona鈥檚 part of a seven-state agreement to protect diminishing Colorado River water supplies must be signed now or the state faces a grim outcome, says a released by the non-profit Arizona Chamber Foundation today.

鈥淭ime is short for Arizona to sign the Drought Contingency Plan. Arizona water users have been working hard over the past seven months to develop a plan to manage Arizona鈥檚 water reductions,鈥� Foundation Policy Advisor Courtney McKinstry said. 鈥淭he summarizes complicated pages of legal agreements within the DCP and outlines the steps we need to take to activate the plan. We hope that it serves as a resource to the public and legislators as Arizona works to find agreement before Jan. 31.鈥�

New alarming water shortage projections hasten the urgency. A 19-year-drought has taken its toll. Shortages now are predicted to arrive a decade earlier than expected, likely by 2020.

Gov. Doug Ducey has repeatedly urged state water interests to finalize the agreement.听 He did so again Monday in his second inaugural speech.

鈥淚t鈥檚 simple. Arizona and our neighboring states draw more water from the Colorado River than Mother Nature puts back. And with a critical shortfall imminent, we cannot kick the can any further,鈥� Ducey said.

The agreement, called the , is a pact between seven states that rely on the river鈥檚 Upper and Lower basins for water to quench 44 million people. The DCP lays out how water supplies will be forcibly cut when a shortage occurs, likely by 2020.

A statewide steering committee charged with finalizing Arizona鈥檚 plan must have an agreement in place by Jan. 31 or face federal intervention. That would be a disaster, leaving it in the hands of federal agencies or the courts, the foundation brief says.

鈥淲ithout the DCP, our claims to Colorado River water during times of shortage could be caught up in the courts for decades or managed from Washington D.C. Such uncertainty could be a drag on Arizona鈥檚 historic economic resurgence,鈥� it says.

A shortage in Arizona, which is a Lower Basin state, occurs when Lake Mead drops to 1,075 feet above sea level. It鈥檚 been hovering dangerously close for years. When a Tier 1 shortage is declared, supplies to states and users are reduced. As the lake drops more tier levels, more severe cuts kick in.

鈥淎 critical goal of the DCP is to keep Lake Mead above elevation 1020,鈥� the foundation鈥檚 policy brief states. 鈥淚n 2007, there was a 10 percent chance of this occurring. That risk is now at 40 percent. Below elevation 1020, the lake will only be at 22 percent capacity and no longer have enough water to meet its minimum commitments to the lower basin states.鈥澨�听

A years-long holdup in Arizona is due to disagreement among water leaders and water interests over provisions for shoring up water levels in Lake Mead and lessening the impact of water cuts to low-priority users like Pinal County agriculture.

At a public meeting Jan. 3, steering committee members indicated that a deal is ready to sign. One of the last major hurdles is to find a way to help Pinal County agriculture that will see drastic cuts in a shortage. Gov. Doug Ducey, the Central Arizona Project, the federal government and the Walton Family Foundation have committed up to $133 million to mitigate the impacts of shortages including helping Pinal County agriculture build groundwater pumping wells and infrastructure.

Both chambers of the state Legislature must now approve a joint resolution to allow the Director of the Department of Water Resources to sign the DCP. Several legislators are on the steering committee including incoming House Speaker Rusty Bowers, R-Mesa.

The clock is ticking. The legislature goes into session Jan. 14. It must act quickly or face the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in the Department of the Interior stepping in to manage Arizona鈥檚 Colorado River water affairs.

鈥淭his means policy makers will have to hit the ground running in the upcoming legislative session to render the necessary authorization to sign the DCP in less than two weeks,鈥� the chamber foundation brief states.

Congress then must act to approve all agreements. With Arizona finally on board, it’s more likely to sail through, thus avoiding protracted litigation and making the DCP a reality, the policy brief states.

Can Arizona get to the final step in time?

The is a non-profit organization dedicated to expanding economic opportunity in Arizona through research and initiatives. The new policy brief is a follow-up to the foundation鈥檚 October 2018 report, , that is intended to educate the public and support legislative action on the DCP.