After months of negotiations, seven Western states along the Colorado River have agreed to water cuts over the next three years to help keep two of the main reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, from falling to critically low levels — but those cuts fall short of what scientists say are needed to stabilize the river in the long-term.
Conservation groups highlighted the need for further cuts to save the Colorado River. Kyle Roerink, executive director of the Great Basin Water Network, called the agreement “another stopgap measure to quell hostilities among the states.”