The Colorado River begins as melting snow, gaining flows as it courses down the Rocky Mountains.
Its major tributaries take shape across Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, coming together in a great river like no other — a river that travels more than 1,400 miles delivering electricity and water to Arizona, California, Nevada and ultimately Mexico. Water diverted from the river has enabled agriculture to spread across 5 million acres of farmland and has fed the growth of cities from Denver to Los Angeles, supplying about 40 million people, not to mention being a crucial resource to 30 Tribal Nations.
In 1922, those seven states along the river negotiated the Colorado River Compact, which apportioned the water. That agreement established a system that overpromised what the river could provide and as they have taken more than its flows can support, it and the reservoirs it feeds into, have dwindled. Decades of overuse have been profoundly exacerbated by the droughts climate change has helped deliver.
Water levels have dropped precipitously in recent years at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the nation’s largest reservoirs that power the Hoover and Glen Canyon dams providing water for drinking and agriculture to millions. These reservoirs are now, even after 2023’s historic snowfall, at close to 40% of their capacity - a drop so significant that that they will become an obstacle to delivering water to cities and farms in Arizona, California and Mexico. New estimates say that the Colorado River is set to lose yet even more water than expected because of declining groundwater levels, due to climate change.
The federal government is intervening. They first called upon the states to come to an agreement cutting usage. The states failed to come to an agreement in 2023. So the Department of the Interior decided that the three Colorado River lower basin states -- California, Nevada and Arizona -- would be required to conserve an unprecedented 3 million-acre-feet of water through 2026. Also, as of May 23rd 2024, several American indigenous tribes signed off on a proposal to secure Colorado River water.
The current guidelines are set to end in 2026, so now two countries, seven states, 30 tribes, cities and local water managers are working on Post-2026 Operational Guidelines. Unlike previous agreements, these guidelines include input from Indigenous communities, who were left out of the 1922 Colorado River compact entirely, and who continue to demand that their water rights are officially recognized and protected. For example, according to a comprehensive 2024 Time magazine report on the crisis, “The Diné use the least amount of water per person of anyone in the U.S., and pay the most.”
In September 2024, stakeholders signed five new water conservation agreements using funding from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
STATES MARKED BELOW IN ORANGE ARE AFFECTED BY THE COLORADO RIVER CRISIS.
The Colorado River provides water and electricity to more than 40 million people in seven states: Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and California.
MAP DATA FROM VERIOUS SOURCES INCLUDING WIKIPEDIA
Map drawn and developed by Climate Change Resources Inc.
