Trillions of gallons of water must be saved from the drying Colorado River to avoid the worst-case scenario brought on by drought, climate change and overuse, federal officials announced earlier this summer, setting a deadline for Aug. 15.
Past that deadline, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials threatened to take control from the seven Western states depending on the river and make the cuts themselves. But the states didn’t come up with a plan by Monday and the federal government didn’t take over.
And upstream states like Colorado are unwilling to pitch in further unless the biggest water users downstream – Arizona and California – go first and cut deep.
