‘Beyond Awful’ Colorado River Forecasts Put Water Talks Under Pressure

After one of the Colorado River’s driest years in decades, Lake Mead and Lake Powell — the largest reservoirs in the country — could see alarming declines in the coming years, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced today.

Federal officials again called for Arizona and Nevada to cut back their supplies from the overtapped river — though California, with its senior claims to the river’s water, will be spared.