The mighty Colorado River runs 1,400 miles, providing everything from crop irrigation to outdoor recreation for people in seven U.S. states and Mexico.
A century ago, leaders of those states — divided into two basins, Upper and Lower — hammered out an agreement for managing Colorado River water, a landmark multi-state cooperative deal at the time. But major parts of that agreement, which has evolved significantly over the decades, are set to expire later this year.
That lapse will potentially affect the 35-40 million people who depend on the Colorado for municipal needs, including some 2.3 million residents of the Las Vegas Valley.
Water managers from river states haven’t yet come to a new agreement to replace the expiring one. If they don’t do so soon, the federal government will step in, imposing its own plan. That would likely mean temporary reductions in the states' allocations.
It's arguably the toughest time to be making such a major decision about water. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reported in April that the river's storage system — comprising the two main reservoirs of Lake Powell and Lake Mead — was at 36 capacity, following a two-decade drought. Snowpack in the mountains whose runoff feeds the Colorado is at record lows, and summer temperatures in much of the region are at record highs, exacerbating the lack of rainfall.
"We're living through the driest year in the history of the Colorado River," said John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, who is the the state's lead negotiator in water talks.
KNPR's Heidi Kyser sat down with Entsminger for an overview and update in June. Their conversation was the first installment of our new live event series, SON In Depth.
Guest: John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority and lead negotiator for Nevada in Colorado River negotiations
