In June, the Biden Administration issued what seemed like an ultimatum to the seven states dependent on Colorado River water: agree on a voluntary plan for draconian cuts in their consumption, or the federal government would impose them unilaterally.
The demand, made by Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner M. Camille Calimlim Touton during Congressional testimony, came in response to unrelenting drought and overuse of water that's driving southwestern North America toward catastrophe. The deadline was Monday, Aug. 15.
And the states failed to meet it.
The bureau has now responded with an announcement of the deepest cuts yet to deliveries of Colorado River water from Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, and changes to the operation of Lake Powell, the second largest, located upstream. The goal is to protect them — at least for now — from dropping perilously low.
Lake Mead’s light-colored “bathtub ring” of mineral deposits ...
