Colorado River Situation Continues to Deteriorate

June 1, 2026

White Paper: UPDATE: Colorado River Basin Storage Continues Slide Toward System Crash

This is a white paper on the worsening water-supply outlook for the Colorado River system, where the region keeps using more water than nature puts back.

It looks at what could happen to the system’s biggest reservoirs over the next year under two scenarios, one wet and one dry.

If the coming winter is dry, accessible water in Lake Powell and Lake Mead would be nearly used up even if the Basin cuts its water use to historic lows, pushing the system dangerously close to a crash.

If the winter is wet, the reservoirs would recover only enough to buy about two years before the region is right back in crisis.

The authors conclude that without much deeper, lasting cuts in water use across the Basin, the reservoir system that was built to deliver reliable water and prosperity to the Southwest will no longer provide that benefit.

Authors: Anne Castle, Jack Schmidt, Eric Kuhn, Kathryn Sorensen, and Katherine Tara

Read the full white paper here.