First ever federal water cuts ordered for Southwest states amid Colorado River drought

As climate change continues to exacerbate a drought in the Colorado River, the Department of the Interior has declared a shortage that will lead to the first-ever federally mandated cuts of the river’s supply to a number of states in the American Southwest. The Bureau of Reclamation, which operates within the Interior Department, said the cuts would go into effect after the drought brought the levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the country’s two largest reservoirs which are fed by the Colorado River, to historically low levels. Lake Mead provides water to about 25 million people in Arizona, ...