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Water in the Colorado River is dwindling to levels that haven’t been seen in decades, and the seven states whose residents and farmers depend on the river can’t agree on a fair way to divide up what’s left.

Negotiations are going nowhere despite more than six months of ongoing talks, plus cajoling by the Trump administration, which twice gathered governors in hopes of a breakthrough that never came. States are already sniping at aspects of a water-use plan the federal Bureau of Reclamation is set to unveil this summer and impose later this year, and they’re threatening to sue each other over water deliveries, raising the prospects of prolonged legal battles just as Western states face demands to sharply reduce water use.

The state of California is walking back protections meant to keep destructive golden mussels out of Lake Oroville, one of the largest and most important reservoirs in the state.

The move follows a new state-funded risk assessment that the invasive species poses a lower risk to the lake, which water managers say changes the state’s calculus on costly and difficult measures aimed at keeping the invaders at bay.

Third-generation farmer from California’s San Joaquin Valley may become the next head of the federal agency that oversees water supplies in the drought-stricken Colorado River Basin.

Aubrey Bettencourt, who recently stepped down as head of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, is expected to be formally nominated by President Donald Trump as the next commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

 

Colorado’s low snowpack and ongoing drought conditions led Gov. Jared Polis to declare a statewide drought emergency Thursday.

The governor activated Phase 3 of Colorado’s Drought Response Plan, which allows the state to take additional emergency response actions, such as emergency funding for unmet response needs, a request for a federal disaster declaration, and reductions in outdoor water usage at state facilities.