Colorado River states suggest mediation as water supplies near crisis

The Colorado River’s largest reservoirs are heading toward a ‘system crash,’ experts warn

The Colorado River is pictured where if flows near Hite, just beyond the upper reaches of Lake Powell, on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)Boulder, Colo. — Colorado River experts and decision makers gathered in Boulder, Colorado, this week to discuss the future of the water supply for 40 million people across the Southwest. At the registration table, a new white paper set the tone for the conference at the C…

Colorado River states suggest mediation as water supplies near crisis

Federal water managers are planning to reveal a short-term river management plan this summer, but states say they need long-term certainty.

Latest Colorado River proposal is disappointing, some officials say. Here’s why.

BOULDER — When a panel moderator at a Colorado River conference in Boulder asked Friday for any positive notes in the negotiations over the river’s future, officials from Colorado, Nevada and Mexico paused — and then paused some more. “You know it might be like, you get invited to someone’s home and you sit down, and dinner is not ready because there’s an argument going on in the family,” said Carlos de la Parra, founder and managing partner of …

Feds Will Soon Impose New Framework on Colorado River if States Can’t Agree How to Manage It

Amid the river’s worst water year on record and deadlocked negotiations over its future, the Bureau of Reclamation announced it will impose a new 10-year management plan if the states relying on the river don’t come to an agreement.By Wyatt MyskowBOULDER, Colo.—The federal government will impose a 10-year operating framework for managing water use in the Colorado River Basin by the end of this summer if the seven states that rely on the river ca…

Feds say new Colorado River plan will be short-term

BOULDER, Colo. – Federal officials announced on Thursday that they plan on using a shorter-term framework for future Colorado River management so they can be more responsive to changing conditions and reservoir levels. Acting Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Scott Cameron said at an annual conference on water policy that the agency will be using a 10-year framework, issuing new operational guidelines every two years. In the absence…

Federal Colorado River managers will impose a 10-year plan, requiring state negotiations every 2 years

Lacking agreement from the seven Colorado River states, federal managers of the critical waterway are planning to implement a framework for its future that will require a renegotiation every two years as the basin faces unprecedented water supply uncertainty.Scott Cameron, the acting commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, outlined the concept Thursday afternoon at an annual conference for Colorado River professionals hosted by the Unive…