Why do desert farms outrank LA for Colorado River water?

Los Angeles shares fourth place in line for Colorado River water, behind farm districts, some in the desert, under a 1931 agreement among California's water agencies. That is the river whose deliveries the US decided in August 2026 to cut from 2027. The city's own aqueduct carried on average less than four in ten of its water over LADWP's fiscal years 2020/21 to 2024/25, and the city bought more than half. The aqueduct is out of the cut's reach, and Interior's announcement doesn't say how California would split its part of the cut among its own water users. Chapters 0:00 Three water lines into Los Angeles 0:37 The city's own aqueduct 2:42 The water LA buys 4:58 Fourth in line on the Colorado 8:01 The deals with the farm districts 10:47 The cut, and California's share 13:34 What the cut can reach Sources Los Angeles Department of Water and Power: https://www.ladwp.com/sites/default/f... U.S. Department of the Interior: https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/int... Bureau of Reclamation: https://www.usbr.gov/ColoradoRiverBas... Bureau of Reclamation: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/F... Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/place/Impe... Bureau of Reclamation: https://www.usbr.gov/lc/region/g4000/... Credits Jonathan Vegas, CC BY 3.0: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aerial_views_of_flood_control_via_the_Aqueduct_Intertie_at_Kern_River_Terminus,_California,_USA.webm Michael Gäbler, CC BY 3.0: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lakeside_of_Mono_Lake.jpg G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Department_of_Interior_Udall_building_entrance_across_street_Washington_DC_2025-02-10_11-47-42.jpg Public domain: Jet Lowe; California Department of Water Resources; Unknown artist; Library of Congress; Charles O'Rear; Unknown author; NASA; Natural Earth; U.S. Department of the Interior. NASA does not endorse this channel. Stock and CC0: Pixabay: Preditorcuts, aerofotografialincoln; CC0: Z3lvs; Pexels: Logan Voss, EJ Merl, Advancer Drones, Scott Unfried, AerialWingsDesigns. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024-2025 Relief: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019), ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, via NASA GIBS: doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003 Music: YouTube Audio Library. #LosAngeles #ColoradoRiver #Water #Geography #Maps