H.R. 7078 — To amend the Colorado River Basin Project Act to provide for the equitable distribution of Colorado River water for the lower basin States, and for other purposes.

This section revises shortage provisions applicable to the Central Arizona Project (CAP)—the aqueduct system delivering Colorado River water primarily for irrigation and municipal use in Arizona. In times of shortage or reduction of mainstream Colorado River water for the CAP, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior, it requires pro rata reductions in diversions for consumptive use by Arizona, California, and Nevada relative to their base annual apportionments (Arizona: 2.8 million acre-feet; California: 4.4 million acre-feet; Nevada: 300,000 acre-feet), without preference to present perfected rights. (Thus, all three states share cuts proportionally to entitlements, regardless of prior water rights priorities.)