Arizona, California, and Nevada have developed a plan to drastically reduce water consumption from the drought-stricken Colorado River over the next three years. The plan aims to save an additional 3 million acre-feet of water from the 1,450-mile river that supplies water to 40 million people across seven U.S. states, parts of Mexico, and over two dozen Native American tribes. Under the proposal, at least half of that amount should be preserved by 2024, and, in exchange for using less water temporarily, the three states’ cities, irrigation districts, and Native American tribes will receive federal funding.

However, there is no definitive plan yet on how the cuts will be distributed. JB Hamby, the chairman of the Colorado River Board of California, said that California would be accountable for 1.6 million acre-feet in cuts, but there is no information provided about how Arizona and Nevada would split the rest.

Due to a multidecade drought in the West and exacerbated by climate change, overuse and increasing demand, the Colorado River has been in a state of crisis. These pressures have led to water levels at key reservoirs along the river plunging to unprecedented historic lows (though they have bounced back somewhat because of heavy rainfall and deep snowpack this winter). This crisis has forced the federal government in recent years to reduce some water allocations and allocate billions of dollars to convince farmers, cities, and others to decrease use.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation suggested a plan in April that considered two different ways to require cuts in the Colorado River supply for Arizona, Nevada, and California, the states that make up the river’s Lower Basin. The first alternative considered a decades-long water priority system to reduce usage that would have assisted California and some senior water rights-possessing Native American tribes. The second involved a proportionate cut distributed across the board, sparing Arizona and Nevada, states with lower-priority rights, from most of the impact. The Interior Department revealed that it would withdraw the proposal so that it could review the comprehensive plan submitted by Western States and reissue it later this year.