Arizona and Nevada, as well as Mexico, will receive smaller water allotments from the Colorado River basin in 2023 as a result of increasingly dire drought conditions over the past two decades, US Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation officials said on Aug. 16. The drought parching much of the Western U.S. has caused water levels to drop to unprecedented levels in the river and in two of its largest reservoirs—Lake Powell and Lake Mead.
Arizona will see its annual apportionment cut by 21%; Nevada by 8%; and Mexico, by approximately 7%, based on BuRec's latest 24-month hydrology assessments. The agency stepped in because states missed the Aug. 16 deadline to reach consensus on a basin-wide plan to reduce water use by 2 million to 4 million acre ft.