Colorado River Faces ‘Devastating Consequences’ If Another Dry Winter Lands, Experts Warn
Key takeaways
- The new report forecasted the impacts of another dry winter and a wetter one, which it found would not provide enough water to extricate the basin from the depths of a climate change-fueled drought.
- “Both scenarios demonstrate the need to adopt significant additional measures to permanently decrease consumptive uses across the entire Basin,” the authors wrote.
- The Colorado River and its tributaries serve 40 million people across seven Western states, 30 tribal nations and Mexico.
Why this matters: environmental and climate reporting with long-term consequences.
June 2, 2026 Share This Article Republish After record-low snowpack across the Colorado River Basin, water levels remain low at Lake Powell on April 30, near Page, Ariz. Credit: RJ Sangosti/Media News Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images Related As a Colorado Aquifer Runs Low, Dangerous Heavy Metals Threaten Rural Communities’ Drinking Water New Mexico’s Time-Honored Irrigation Canals Face Existential Threat Colorado River Negotiators Are Nearly Out of Time and Snowpack Share This Article Republish Most Popular EPA Rollbacks Could Raise AC, Refrigeration Costs Despite Promise of Lower Prices Scientists Outplant Experimental ‘Flonduran’ Corals in Florida’s Dry Tortugas National Park The Okefenokee’s Bid for International Recognition Another warm, arid winter could leave Colorado River reservoirs nearly dry.
That is one of the projections a group of Colorado River experts released Monday, building on a previous report released last September assessing the future of the waterway’s federally managed dams under different hydrological scenarios. The new report forecasted the impacts of another dry winter and a wetter one, which it found would not provide enough water to extricate the basin from the depths of a climate change-fueled drought.
“Both scenarios demonstrate the need to adopt significant additional measures to permanently decrease consumptive uses across the entire Basin,” the authors wrote.