Water uncertainty looms as key states miss deadline on Colorado River agreement

Record ID: 2273707

  • Title: Water uncertainty looms as key states miss deadline on Colorado River agreement
  • Date: 13th November 2025
  • Summary: PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - NOVEMBER 5, 2022) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** FORMER PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND THEN DEMOCRATIC SENATE CANDIDATE, JOHN FETTERMAN, EMBRACING PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES (FILE - NOVEMBER 9, 2022) (REUTERS) FETTERMAN WALKING ON STAGE FETTERMAN WITH FAMILY ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) THEN PE
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: climate colorado river drought grand canyon lake mead lake powell reservoir
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Environment,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA007160612112025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: There’s looming uncertainty over water distribution from the Colorado River among several Southwestern states in the United States after a missed deadline this week.
    The Colorado River supplies water in some capacity to about 40 million people in the American Southwest. The upper-basin states include Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. The lower-basin states include Arizona, California and Nevada.
    "From the perspective of the Lower Basin, the Upper Basin isn't willing to take cuts," said Sarah Porter, Director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute. "So there's an impasse between the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin."
    According to Porter, the states involved started to operate water distribution from the river with an initial compact agreement in 1922.  The agreement has been supplemented over the years with negotiations to address the changing resources provided by the Colorado River and changes with reservoirs at Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
    The current guidelines are set to expire at the end of 2025 and the federal government requested the states reach a new agreement by November 11. That deadline passed this week without an agreement, although negotiations are reportedly ongoing.
    "If there's no agreement, then there's a likelihood of the reservoir levels getting to low levels that are to a point where hydropower can't be produced and, in the worst case scenario, so low that water couldn't be released from the reservoirs," Porter said.
    Although the current agreement expires at the end of the year, it includes operating guidelines for 2026 but not beyond that. Porter said said any disruption would be felt closer to 2027.
    Porter said some of the biggest challenges the states have to consider include years of drought in the region and underestimation of the river’s resources over the years.  Some local communities have been addressing the uncertainty with their own water conservation efforts and building supply through aquifers. 
    (Production: Sandra Stojanovic, Liliana Salgado, Erica Stapleton)
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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