Colorado River

The humpback chub, a rare fish found only in the Colorado River basin, has been brought back from the brink of extinction after decades of protection, though work must continue to ensure its survival, federal authorities said Monday in reclassifying the species from endangered to threatened status.

Drought in the West took a national stage as water leaders from seven states and two tribes testified in the U.S. House. They pushed for collaboration as supplies dwindle.

The U.S. government released projections Wednesday that indicate an even more troubling outlook for a river that serves 40 million people in the American West.

Federal scientists are launching an effort to better understand the hydrology in the U.S. West. The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday announced a new kind of climate observatory near the headwaters of the Colorado River. Scientists say data gathered from the equipment will help better predict rain and snowfall in the region and determine how much of it will flow through the river.

The federal government declared a water shortage for much of the Southwest last week, resulting in the first ever mandatory cutbacks for some who draw from the Colorado River. As two decades of drought, increased demand and climate change cut deep into the West’s water supply, the region is looking ahead to a future where supplies might drop further still.

Federal officials declared a first-ever water shortage for the lower Colorado River, triggering mandatory cutbacks for some users. Ongoing drought across the West, increased demand and the wide-reaching effects of climate change have steadily reduced water levels in the nation’s largest reservoirs. Usage restrictions will begin in January, and are expected to be felt most sharply by farmers in Arizona.

U.S. officials on Monday are expected to declare the first-ever water shortage from a river that serves 40 million people in the West, triggering cuts to some Arizona farmers next year amid a gripping drought.

The Colorado River through the Grand Canyon National Park holds lessons for managing an essential and diminishing resource in a rapidly warming climate.

A massive new infrastructure bill is slowly moving its way through Congress this summer. But a coalition of elected officials, farmers, conservationists and tribal leaders want to make sure it doesn’t include new big pipelines or dams along the parched Colorado River.

Another dry year has left the waterway that supplies 40 million people in the Southwest parched. A prolonged 21-year warming and drying trend is pushing the nation’s two largest reservoirs to record lows. For the first time this summer, the federal government will declare a shortage.