The nation's two largest reservoirs are extraordinarily dry and just set a new record for low water levels. Lake Powell and Lake Mead, which store water from the Colorado River for use by major cities, tribes, and a massive agriculture industry, are the lowest they've been in nearly 70 years.
The last time their combined storage was this small was in May 1957, before Lake Powell was even built.
The data comes from a new paper published by a widely respected group of Colorado River experts. The paper's authors — a group of academics and retired water officials — write that Powell and Mead are often measured separately, but should be counted together to paint a complete picture of how much water is available from a river that supplies nearly 40 million people across seven Western states.
Jack Schmidt, a co-author of the paper who directs the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University, called the new record "a significant moment" in the river's supply crisis.
"It's a real reminder of what a remarkably small amount of water we have left in the system," Schmidt told KJZZ. "We've never been in this position. We are truly in uncharted territory."
Schmidt said policymakers in charge of the river are not doing enough to curb water demand, and that the region needs big changes to live within its means.
Climate change and drought have put less water into Lake Powell, which is mostly filled with Rocky Mountain snowmelt. Humans have struggled to cut back on the amount they take out of the reservoirs.
Negotiations among the states that use the river have been stuck at an impasse for months. They cannot agree on which states and water users should be forced to use less. With no agreement among the states, the federal government is soon expected to announce its own new rules for sharing the river. That could trigger lawsuits between states and the federal government, potentially setting up a battle in the Supreme Court.
Schmidt said policymakers have made small agreements to chip away at water use, but have not done enough to make long-lasting reductions across the region.
"It's metaphorically like a bus careening towards the edge of a cliff," Schmidt said, "And everybody is arguing and battling about who's going to get control of the steering wheel, and nobody is hitting the brakes. Meanwhile, we just careen."
Powell and Mead combined hold slightly less than 60% of all water stored in the Colorado River basin. Every day going forward, reservoir levels will likely set a new record low until snowmelt begins to refill the Colorado River next spring.
Copyright 2026 KJZZ News
