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Much of the discourse on how to handle the Colorado River’s viability as the West’s biggest water source is focused on water conservation measures. In reality, those sorts of interventions might be missing the forest for the trees.

Vox’s Kenny Torrella reported on the Colorado River Compact’s struggles to reach a deal for the next two decades. The seven states in the compact — California, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming — missed a Feb. 14 deadline to seal a new agreement amid a snow drought that is adding even more tension.

Ever since California was pummeled by a series of storms in fall and early winter, experts have said the state’s water supply is looking strong for this year.

Those storms — with a potential bump from the ones hitting much of the state this week — have helped refill reservoirs and eased immediate drought worries in many parts of the state.

Rounds of heavy rainfall and significant mountain snowfall are occurring across the West, especially in California.

We need the snow, but the heavy rain is causing flooding across lower elevations, burn scars and foothills.

The Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California has unanimously certified the Final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Pure Water Southern California, concluding more than five years of technical studies, public outreach and environmental analysis for the proposed large-scale water reuse initiative.

Certification of the EIR completes the project’s review under the California Environmental Quality Act and allows Metropolitan to move ahead with future deliberations on potential implementation. These upcoming decisions are expected to address issues such as project phasing, funding strategies, design and construction timelines, and will be considered as part of Metropolitan’s Climate Adaptation Master Plan for Water evaluation process and its biennial budget review.

The leaders of seven states failed to negotiate a deal to share the diminishing waters of the Colorado River by a Trump administration deadline on Saturday, leaving the Southwest in a quagmire with uncertain repercussions while the river’s depleted reservoirs continue to decline.

Former U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said in an interview with The Times that the impasse now appears so intractable that Trump administration officials should take a step back, abandon the current effort and begin all over again.