hoover dam
Deal is reached to keep Colorado River from going dry, for now
Arizona, California and Nevada have agreed to take less water from the drought-strained Colorado River, a breakthrough agreement that, for now, keeps the river from falling so low that it would jeopardize water supply for major Western cities like Phoenix and Los Angeles as well as for some of America’s most productive farmland.
Dale Maharidge: The Colorado River is running dry, but nobody wants to talk about the mud
It’s not just the dams: The Western drought is threatening the entire energy sector
The consequences of water shortages are playing out now in swaths of the American West, where an expansive, decades-long drought is forcing drastic cuts in hydroelectric power generation.
DRIED UP: Lakes Mead and Powell are at the epicenter of the biggest Western drought in history
Nowhere is the Southwest’s worst drought since the year 800 more evident than Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the pair of artificial Colorado River reservoirs whose plunging levels threaten major water and power sources for tens of millions of people.