While politicians debate and committees deliberate, the Colorado River is simply drying up. Twenty years of drought, made worse by climate change, have slashed river flows to dangerous lows. And yet, 40 million people across seven states still depend on this shrinking lifeline. Good luck with that.
The math isn’t complicated. There’s less water, but demand keeps climbing. For the first time ever, officials declared an emergency shortage. Arizona’s taking the biggest hit—512,000 acre-feet less water in 2025. That’s 18% of their Colorado River allocation gone. Poof. Nevada and Mexico are losing water too, with deeper cuts on the horizon.
The numbers don’t lie: less water, more people, emergency shortages. Arizona loses 18% while everyone watches the river vanish.
Agriculture gets the raw end of this parched deal. Farmers use about 70% of Colorado River water, making them the obvious target for cutbacks. Central Arizona’s agricultural sector is first on the chopping block due to the priority system. Turns out water rights established a century ago matter more than ever when the tap starts running dry.
Meanwhile, everyone’s draining the backup tank. Groundwater pumping has reached absurd levels—over 1.2 million acre-feet yanked from underground annually since 2003. That’s more than double what’s being lost from reservoirs. This “solution” is about as sustainable as using credit cards to pay off other credit cards.
Urban areas aren’t helping the situation. Western states keep growing, adding more straws to a shrinking glass. Cities are trying to conserve, but population growth outpaces those efforts. Phoenix has become the fastest-growing large city in America, further straining the region’s limited water resources. Metropolitan areas need water for drinking, sanitation, and industry. Something’s gotta give. The Tier 1 shortage declared for 2025 will affect nearly all Central Arizona Project water users as the crisis deepens.
The whole mess has seven states and Mexico locked in tense negotiations. Everyone wants their fair share of an increasingly unfair situation. The federal government had to step in because states couldn’t agree on voluntary cuts. Shocking.
The Colorado River crisis isn’t coming. It’s here. And there’s no rain in the forecast.
References
- https://www.cap-az.com/cap-system/planning-and-processes/shortage-impacts/
- https://www.propublica.org/article/40-million-people-rely-on-the-colorado-river-its-drying-up-fast
- https://www.cap-az.com/water/water-supply/colorado-river-reductions/
- https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/02/colorado-river-crisis-explained/
- https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2025-05-27/colorado-river-groundwater
