Lake Powell

In an email obtained by The Associated Press, the Bureau of Reclamation told various groups that water from Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona would not be released “due to significant hydropower generation concerns under already strained system conditions.”

The Department of the Interior's final Environmental Impact Statement comes after years of stalled negotiations. What you think of it depends on which groups of states you stand with: The Upper Basin or the Lower Basin.

Overuse, drought and climate change have pummeled the lake fed by the imperiled Colorado River to near historic lows, made worse by the driest winter on record and extreme heat. Even so, businesses on the lake say there's still plenty of water to recreate.

The combined amount of water in Lake Powell and Lake Mead is now the lowest it has been in nearly 70 years.

Environmental advocates argue that new water-sharing rules can and should keep the river flowing for plants, animals, people and infrastructure.

If water levels drop much lower than they are now, hydropower generators inside Glen Canyon Dam could be forced to shut down.

The Bureau of Reclamation is expected to announce a decision in the next couple of weeks, and said it is weighing several factors, including the Colorado River's ecological health and Glen Canyon Dam's hydropower production.

Lake Powell’s dire water level forecast is prompting an unprecedented move: transporting a massive marina to deeper waters. It’s another example of how the West’s historically dry, warm year is straining the Colorado River.

The three Western states say their proposal would save 3.2 million acre-feet of water through 2028. That’s enough water to serve more than 25 million people a year.

Trial runs are happening in some of the nation's most remote and sensitive ecosystems. Dinosaur National Monument recently set up an eDNA autosampler to detect signs of invasive rusty crayfish in the Green River.

Lake Powell is at just 23% capacity and approaching the point where water won't be able to flow into its hydroelectric turbines without air causing damage.

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