Colorado River

Jay Weiner, the water attorney for the Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe on the Colorado River in Arizona and California, discusses how tribes play a role in Colorado River governance, even if they're not officially in the closed-door negotiations.

The Arizona Department of Water Resources is gearing up for a legal fight over Colorado River negotiations and has hired a law firm to represent the state.

Estevan López, New Mexico's water negotiator, said talks resumed March 2, and the upper and lower basin states are using a short-term pitch from Nevada as a starting point.

Record-low snowpack across the Upper Colorado River Basin will likely translate to poor conditions for spring runoff, and could mean emergency action to supplement low water levels in Lake Powell.

The sluggish Colorado River negotiations have entered a new phase: Long and fiery letter writing.

Leaders of environmental groups are issuing fresh warnings this week about the impacts the ongoing gridlock could have in the river basin.

The federal government manages the biggest dams on the Colorado River, but it hasn't been taking a forceful role in negotiations between the states on how to allocate increasingly scarce water in the basin.

A lack of snow, compounded by warm temperatures, has plagued Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. That will impact how much water is available come spring runoff.

Pressure to reach a deal is building. Forecasts for the Colorado River water supply continue to worsen as snowpack lags far behind normal across the West. And negotiators from the basins have said there are "sticking points" that have persisted in recent weeks, even after marathon talks failed to resolve them.

As Basin state governors met in Washington D.C., to try and break the impasse, Colorado’s Attorney General said the state has a deep bench of lawyers to contend with multiple water disputes.