An extraordinary drought in the West is drying up the Colorado River and draining the nation’s largest reservoirs – Lake Mead and Lake Powell. And amid the overuse of the river and the aridification of the region, the federal government is implementing new mandatory water cuts and asking states to devise a plan to save the river basin.
The federal government announced Tuesday the Colorado River will operate in a Tier 2 shortage condition for the first time starting in January as the West’s historic drought has taken a severe toll on Lake Mead.
According to a new projection from the Department of the Interior, Lake Mead’s water level will be below 1,050 feet above sea level come January – the threshold required to declare a Tier 2 shortage starting in 2023.
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