The Colorado River is drying up, and the repercussions could be big

Though I'll note that much of the ag production could be shifted elsewhere, if this country would quit wasting resources on corn ethanol.

It was called Boulder Dam in February 1935 when it began holding back the Colorado River to form the gigantic reservoir of Lake Mead. The foundations of irrigation-driven economic development—a dream of entrepreneurs since the 1890s—had been laid. Now, however, a relentless drought that has drained this and other reservoirs to record lows could turn that dream into a nightmare for the 40 million people and all the other creatures who rely on the river, which irrigates 6 million acres of farmland. About 80% of the water goes to agriculture.

The officials of seven states charged with allocating how much of this reduced water will flow to whom cannot agree. They’ve blown past two deadlines for letting the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation know what they’ve decided. The bureau had warned that if the states didn’t collectively set the reductions themselves by the most recent deadline, Jan. 31, it would do the divvying. Those cuts may amount to one-third or more of existing allocations. - Daily Kos

Big changes are needed for a big dam out West

I found this article fascinating. In the bigger picture, it's a high-profile example of how water management practices in general need to change, at an accelerated rate.

Nearly 25 years later, the campaign to bypass Glen Canyon Dam has never been stronger. Now may seem like an odd time to make the case for draining the second-largest reservoir in the country, with the West in the depths of a megadrought unmatched since the Medieval Period. Tree ring cores and remote sensing data indicate a paucity of soil moisture unseen in at least 1,200 years. Lake Powell itself, along with reservoirs across the West, are at record lows, and climate change is set to exact an even more severe toll with rising temperatures killing the snowpack that feeds them, evaporating what are essentially ponds in the middle of the desert. Yet it is the drought itself that has revealed precisely why now is the moment to execute Dominy’s plan to bypass his dam, lower Lake Powell to river level, and restore Glen Canyon. - Earther