Arizona and Nevada face another round of water cuts as drought hammers Colorado River levels
Arizona and Nevada will be hit with another round of cuts to their water supply, as the U.S.
Arizona and Nevada will be hit with another round of cuts to their water supply, as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said Tuesday that the ongoing drought continues to threaten water levels of the Colorado River and, by extension, impact communities across the West.
The announcement comes as western portions of the U.S. have already had to take a series of rare and even unprecedented steps to ration water to large parts of the country. Water levels in Nevada’s Lake Mead, the nation’s largest reservoir, hit historic lows in June.
Tuesday’s announcement included designating Lake Mead to operate in a Tier-2a shortage, which increases water restrictions on Arizona, Nevada and parts of Mexico. It is the first time the lake has been pushed to that designation.
The new regulations are based on federal government projections of reservoir water levels over the next 24 months and will take effect in January 2023.
Megadrought emergency in Grand CanyonAug. 15, 202202:07“Every sector in every state has a responsibility to ensure that water is used with maximum efficiency,” Tanya Trujillo, assistant secretary for water and science at the Department of Interior, said in a statement. “In order to avoid a catastrophic collapse of the Colorado River System and a future of uncertainty and conflict, water use in the Basin must be reduced,” she added.
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