Three of the seven states who rely on the Colorado River for water are expected to announce a key deal this week to reduce usage, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

For Utah, the reported deal could take negotiating pressure off the state and others in the upper Colorado River basin — Wyoming, New Mexico and Colorado — for now, some water experts here say.

The reported deal only involves lower basin states California, Nevada and Arizona. The major Colorado River-users, the Los Angeles Times reported, have come to an agreement with federal officials to cut the amount of water they collect from now through the end of 2028.

Just how much would be cut? California would slash 12% of what it uses now, followed by a 31% cut in Arizona and a 28% cut in Nevada, according to the Los Angeles Times report.

That all is supposed to save at least 3.2 million acre-feet through 2028. (An acre-foot equals the amount of water needed to cover an acre of land with a foot of water.)

It’s an amount the three states initially proposed saving in a May 1 offer. The reported deal comes after significant back-and-forth between the federal government, Native American tribes in the area and the seven states that rely on the river.

The states have missed multiple deadlines to come to an agreement. In May, Utah and the upper basin’s three other states called for “immediate mediation.”

“[A] long term sticking point has been the Upper Basin’s refusal to take any mandatory cuts,” said Jack Schmidt, a Colorado River expert, in an email to The Salt Lake Tribune, “and I am skeptical if any sacrifice will be asked of the Upper Basin states.”

Schmidt, who serves as the director of Utah State University’s Center for Colorado River Studies, added that “[w]hat is expected of the Upper Basin is a commitment ‘to try.’”

The expected deal comes as conditions in drought-riddled Utah worsen, and as the two reservoirs on the Colorado River combined — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — fell to their lowest levels on record last week.

Lake Mead is currently at 27% capacity, while Lake Powell sits at only 23% capacity. Schmidt noted that any dip in the amount of water released from Lake Powell means increased releases — and less water retained — at Lake Mead.

The only way to maintain Lake Mead’s levels while also lowering the amount of water released from Powell, Schmidt said, is to supply less water to lower basin users — California, Nevada and Arizona.

The impact on Utah and other upper basin users remains somewhat unclear.

A spokesperson for Gov. Spencer Cox said his office was looking into the potential impact of the deal but did not immediately provide specific comment.

The Utah Department of Natural Resources directed inquiries about the reported deal to The Colorado River Authority of Utah, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Tribune. Spokespeople for the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Bureau of Land Reclamation also did not respond.

Kyle Roerink, a senior adviser at the Great Basin Water Network, said the expected deal would come at a “prudent time” given the dire state of the river’s reservoirs.

“We know that the system is trending in the wrong direction,” Roerink told The Tribune on Tuesday, “and having no framework in place is not a way to instill confidence among the public at large in the desert Southwest.”

Negotiations have so far been tense, with a split largely between the upper basin and lower basin states.

Twice, governors of all seven states have met together to discuss a deal to no avail, and the question of litigation over the issue has come to the fore. (During the most recent Utah legislative session, state lawmakers set aside $1 million for a potential Colorado River legal fight.)

And while the potential deal is a positive step, Roerink said it “isn’t the beginning of the end” of conversation — and debate — about the Colorado River.

“This is the end of the beginning,” he said.