No matter which alternative the federal government picks to manage the depleted Colorado River, there's a very good chance of sThe bathtub ring showing how much Lake Mead has dropped its shown from inside Hoover Dam. No matter which alternative the U.S. government picks to manage the depleted Colorado River, there's a very good chance of severely bad consequences — such as "dead pool" at reservoirs and a cutoff of electricity from big dams, a new federal report shows.everely bad consequences — such as "dead pool" at reservoirs and a cutoff of electricity from big dams.
Dire Colorado River Outcomes May be Unavoidable, US Report Shows
Jan. 25, 2026
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The bathtub ring showing how much Lake Mead has dropped its shown from inside Hoover Dam. No matter which alternative the U.S. government picks to manage the depleted Colorado River, there's a very good chance of severely bad consequences — such as "dead pool" at reservoirs and a cutoff of electricity from big dams, a new federal report shows.
John Locher, Associated Press 2023
In some cases, these consequences can be avoided only if the seven river basin states agree to the worst possible water-use cuts under consideration — cuts that now would likely fall most heavily on Arizona, California and Nevada. And if climate conditions are dry enough, the worst-case scenario of not enough water being released downriver to meet century-old compact requirements probably can't be avoided at all.
Those are findings of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's new 1,600-page draft environmental impact statement that looks at alternative pathways for managing the river for the next 20 years.
The bureau proposed four possible alternatives for managing the river under increasingly dry conditions, plus an extremely unlikely "no action" option, to come up with cuts strong enough to avoid dire consequences such as "dead pool" in Lakes Mead and Powell, and a shutdown of electrical power generation at Hoover and Glen Canyon dams.
But a one-page graphic tucked inside the report's executive summary shows that under continued or worsening dry weather, meeting those goals won't be possible without massive cuts in water use.