Federal officials on Friday sharply cut how much water Arizona, California and Nevada can draw from the Colorado River over the next two years in an attempt to stabilize a system on the verge of collapse because of climate change and overuse.
The existing rules governing use of the river and of the nation’s largest reservoirs, Lakes Powell and Mead, were set to expire this year, just as drought constricts the Colorado’s flow and both lakes shrink to record lows. Friday’s announcement by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reduced the allocation for the three states by about a quarter, in total, reducing Arizona’s share by the most, about a third.
The plan formalized voluntary cuts the states had already offered to accept and settles months of uncertainty over how the water supply will be managed in the coming years. But it does little to solve the underlying crisis: The river’s flow is diminishing and reservoirs are drying up, but communities and farms still use unsustainable amounts of water.
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This is going to get so much worse. I am on the “foothills” or east side of the rockies and we’re currently experiencing our version of a “monsoon” https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/co/denver From 8/24/26 today into September, the most precipitation is ~0.05 inches (~.13cm).
The entire month we have just under 1 inch of rain https://www.wunderground.com/history/monthly/us/co/denver/KBKF/date/2026-8
This is supposed to be the wet side of the Rockies and we aint got shit.
Meanwhile the watershed for the Colorado River is scraping along the bottom of the current model’s worst projected scenario https://nwcc-apps.sc.egov.usda.gov/awdb/basin-plots/POR/PREC/assocHUC6/140100_Colorado_Headwaters.html?showYears=2026
This is, so far, the worst recorded amount in over a decade, including the droughts in 2018 and 2012.
edit/addition:
This is Vail’s snow pack https://nwcc-apps.sc.egov.usda.gov/awdb/site-plots/POR/WTEQ/CO/Vail Mountain.html?showYears=2026 All the the snow pack records across the water shed look like this where the actual amount is below even the minimum
but communities and farms still use unsustainable amounts of water.
I’m so tired of hearing this load of shit. “Communities” use TWENTY PERCENT of all the water consumed in Arizona. That includes all the horrible, wasteful, golf courses everybody hates except golfers. TWENTY PERCENT.
Farms and industry use EIGHTY PERCENT of all the water used in Arizona. HALF of the resultant production from this water usage is shipped out of the country in order to generate PROFITS.
👉But I’ll give you three fucking guesses as to who is going to have water restrictions levied against them.👈
Just like Republicans always mouthing off about the welfare queens, as their orange moron doubles the national debt. They get to take it all and turn around and shit on everybody else for being the problem, as per usual.
You know what would solve this? More golf courses and data centers! Let’s goooooo
Won’t someone think of the data centers and the golfers 😖😣😫🫨😭😭😭
But no Utah of course, only blue states
Water rights in the southwest are a total mess. There’s a river through Tempe, AZ that is prevented from reaching phoenix by a giant rubber balloon
https://archive.org/details/TimeLifeVideoWhereDidtheColoradoGo
Where Did the Colorado Go?
by WGBH (Television station : Boston, Mass.), British Broadcasting Corporation., Time-Life Films.
Publication date 1976 Topics nova (television program), Stream conservation, Colorado River (Colo.-Mexico), North America – Colorado River Publisher [New York] : Time-Life Films Language English Item Size 1.4G
Considers the destructive effects of damming and regulation of the Colorado River. Examines the problems resulting from man’s alteration of nature and discusses alternative solutions offered by conservationists.
Federal officials don’t recognize climate change so why are they targeting specific states?
They are the states supplied by Lake Mead, aka Lower Basin States.
Neat, so the water wars should kick off pretty soon.
I don’t know how old you are, but when we talked about water wars back in the 90s we were called crazy.
And, well, I guess they were right, because watching everything come true has driven me insane from the knowledge of what else will come.
Read Cadillac Desert.