Colorado River

Water officials across the West have been negotiating a crisis on the Colorado River. Drought is putting pressure on the 7-state basin, and the nation’s two largest reservoirs recently reached record lows.

Six of the seven states that use water from the Colorado River proposed a way for the federal government to cut back on water use and protect dropping water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell.

Federal and state officials are outlining plans and soliciting public comment for a potential concrete dam project in the Medicine Bow National Forest. The dam would create a new reservoir in the Colorado River Basin.

The Wyoming State Legislature begins its lawmaking session this week. One bill, called the "Colorado River Authority of Wyoming Act," would create a board and commissioner to manage Wyoming’s water in the Colorado River Basin.

Colorado has pledged to eliminate thousands of acres of irrigated agriculture in a focused region on the eastern plains. The burden falls mostly on private landowners. But the state also has irrigation wells there. And local farmers say they shouldn’t be the only ones to sacrifice their water rights.

The Water Hub, an organization centered on water justice, led a briefing with a team of panelists to share local solutions as the Colorado River faces historic drought.

The Colorado River's foundational agreement is 100 years old this month. And while the document among seven western states was groundbreaking for its time, it's currently left the southwest to grapple with a massive gap between water supply and demand.

A Nevada water agency has taken the first concrete step toward accounting for evaporation and other losses in the Colorado River’s Lower Basin. The new analysis attempts to pinpoint exactly how much water is lost, and who should cut back to bring the system closer to a balance between supply and demand.

The Department of the Interior designated $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act for drought mitigation in the Colorado River basin.

Cities in the arid Southwest are investing in water reuse technology, keeping more water in the system and bolstering drinking supplies in an area hit hard by drought.