Colorado River water management crisis

Current rules governing the Colorado River are set to expire.

The current rules governing the Colorado River are scheduled to expire at the end of September. This expiration follows a 2007 framework that is set to be replaced by a new federal plan.

The proposed replacement plan targets states in the Lower Basin, including Arizona, California, and Nevada. Under this proposal, these states would likely face water use cuts of approximately 20% over the next two years, while the Upper Basin states—Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming—are not subject to mandatory cuts under the federal proposal.

Lake Mead hits record low water level amid Colorado River crisis

U.S. Raises Threat of Steep Water Cuts in Lower Colorado River Basin

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The Colorado River basin experienced its worst snowpack on record during the past winter.

The past winter — around early 2026 — brought the Colorado River basin its worst snowpack on record. Poor snowfall and an unusually hot spring pushed river inflows down to less than a quarter of the average annual demand.

The basin had already been in drought since 2000, according to the US Geological Survey, and the combined levels of the river’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, have reached record lows.

The US Bureau of Reclamation has since proposed a plan to cut Colorado River water use in Arizona, California and Nevada by about 20% over the next two years.

Lake Mead reached a previous record low water level on July 28, 2022.

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, reached a record low water level on July 28, 2022, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation.

The drop marked the lowest point for the reservoir since it was filled about 90 years ago, reflecting years of overuse, drought, and rising temperatures that have also depleted Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States.

The reservoir, held back by the Hoover Dam, is a critical storage system on the Colorado River. Its decline in 2022 exposed human remains and forced water officials in Las Vegas to pump from deeper within the reservoir to supply millions of people.

Severe drought conditions in 2022 exposed human remains at Lake Mead and forced deeper water pumping in Las Vegas.

In 2022, severe drought at Lake Mead exposed human remains and forced water officials in Las Vegas to pump water from deeper within the reservoir to supply millions of people, according to reports.

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, sits behind Hoover Dam on the Arizona-Nevada border outside Las Vegas. Years of overuse, prolonged drought and rising temperatures had driven the reservoir to record lows.

The Colorado River supplies water to roughly 40 million people across seven states and two countries, and Lake Mead is a critical storage system in that network. Its falling water level also threatened water supplies and electricity generation from Hoover Dam.