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Falling Lake Mead Water Levels Prompt Detente In Arizona Feud

Arizona is the odd state out in agreeing to dramatically curtail water use from the Colorado River, raising tensions in the Southwest as extreme drought conditions return. At issue are falling water levels at the West’s biggest reservoir, Lake Mead. Having already dropped by more than 150 feet over the past two decades to 1,077 feet, the Nevada reservoir is two feet shy of falling below a federal threshold that can trigger mandatory cutbacks by U.S. officials.

OPINION: The Blithering Idiocy Of California’s Water Crisis

It’s not new that most of the rainfall in California is in the north and most of the people and farms using water are further south. It’s not new that California has wet years and dry years, or that the state is at risk of both flooding and drought, sometimes simultaneously. What’s new is that earlier generations of California politicians solved water problems, while the current generation intentionally creates them. We are the beneficiaries of monumental achievements in water infrastructure that made modern California possible.