The Colorado River Crisis Is Reaching a Breaking Point

AI Summary

The Colorado River crisis has reached a critical point due to a prolonged megadrought affecting seven western U.S. states. Federal water allocation cuts of up to 40 percent are being considered, impacting millions of people and necessitating significant changes in water usage.

Depending on whom you talk to, the Colorado River serves either 35 million or 40 million people, all of whom are having to reconsider how much water they use and how they use it in the wake of an ongoing megadrought that arrived at the beginning of this century. The changes are no longer in the "let's-discuss-this" phase as the federal government threatens to impose up to a 40 percent cut in river water allocations over the next 10 years if the seven western states—Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California—and…