Arizona farmers, cities and tribes continue to work on a deal to avert major cutbacks in water deliveries from Lake Mead in the coming years.

State water managers are quietly making their pitch to those stakeholders who rely on the Colorado River to voluntarily give up some water now to avoid potentially losing even more later.

There’s about a 50 percent chance Southwest states will face a shortage declaration in 2018. The proposed “drought contingency plan” would result in almost 200,000 acre feet being left in Mead when the water level is between 1090 feet and 1075 feet.