The Biden administration struck a breakthrough deal to address ongoing drought conditions along the Colorado River Basin Monday. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Arizona, California and Nevada reached the deal in efforts to preserve the future of the river. "This is a step in the right direction, although we haven't seen the full details of the agreement yet," University of New Mexico's Water Policy expert, John Fleck said. "This is a really important agreement because the biggest water users on the Colorado River, especially California, but also Arizona, have agreed to further cut their use of water.""This agreement has the potential to benefit all of the states that depend on the Colorado River, including those of us here in New Mexico who depend on Colorado River water for our drinking water," Fleck added.Tribal Communities"One of the things we don't know yet is how this will affect tribal communities. The tribes have legal entitlements to a bunch of water they don't have a chance to use yet. I think we have a moral obligation to the tribes. We muscled into their land," Fleck added. "We took away their land, water and efforts to give some of that water back to the tribes that they're entitled to. It has become far more difficult, because Arizona and California have been so unwilling to cut back their use enough. So, this has the potential to step in the right direction. Until we see the details of the agreement, it's hard to know for sure how tribes will benefit from it."While it remains unseen if the deal is enough to reduce the demands of the Colorado River, Fleck said only time will tell. "We get our water here in Albuquerque from the Colorado River through the San Juan Chama Project. It's really important to us here in Albuquerque that the other people using water on the Colorado River cut back far enough to save the river system from collapsing," Fleck said.