Colorado River

Heavy rain and snow could provide a boost to the Colorado River, where the nation's largest reservoirs are shrinking due to 23 years of drought and steady demand. But climate scientists warn that it will take more than one wet winter to end the drought.

The Upper Colorado River Commission – comprised of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico – is set to announce details of an extended “System Conservation Pilot Program” through which water users could be paid to cut back on their use.

In Page, Arizona, a shrinking Lake Powell is causing problems for the local water utility. A short-term fix is underway, but Page says it needs more money for a backup.

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.

States in the Colorado River Basin have failed to meet a federal deadline to conserve an unprecedented amount of water. The lack of consensus on how to wean off the river’s dwindling supply puts the water source for 40 million in the Southwest in jeopardy.

Federal officials declared a first-ever water shortage for the lower Colorado River, triggering mandatory cutbacks for some users. Ongoing drought across the West, increased demand and the wide-reaching effects of climate change have steadily reduced water levels in the nation’s largest reservoirs. Usage restrictions will begin in January, and are expected to be felt most sharply by farmers in Arizona.

Seven years ago, a pulse of water on the Colorado River at the U.S.-Mexico border temporarily reconnected it to the Pacific Ocean. Scientists used the so-called “pulse flow” to study what plant and animal life returned to the desiccated delta along with water.

When it comes to water in the West, a lot of it is visible. Snow stacks up high in the mountains then eventually melts and flows down into valleys. It’s easy to see how heavy rains and rushing rivers translate into an abundance of available water. But another important factor of water availability is much harder to see.

The Fort Yuma-Quechan Indian Tribe is situated at a nexus in the Colorado River Basin.

Increasingly bleak forecasts for the Colorado River have for the first time put into action elements of the 2019 upper basin drought contingency plan.