The Colorado River is shrinking. What happens next?
The Colorado River is experiencing a historic water crisis, with Lake Mead reaching its lowest levels in nearly 90 years. Las Vegas is adapting to the shortage through aggressive water conservation and infrastructure investment.
Why it matters
The shrinking river threatens the water supply for millions of people in the American West, highlighting the urgent impact of climate change on critical infrastructure.
The Colorado River is seen from the air in Grand Canyon Village, Arizona, on 1 September 2026./Getty Images The Colorado River is seen from the air in Grand Canyon Village, Arizona, on 1 September 2026./Getty Images Colorado river crisis The Colorado River is shrinking. What happens next? Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was filled nearly 90 years ago, Lake Powell also at a historic low
Prefer the Guardian on Google I t was 42C (108F) degrees as we motored across Nevada’ s Lake Mead in our rented pontoon boat. Colby Pellegrino with the Southern Nevada Water Authority wanted to show us something we shouldn’t have been able to see. She pointed toward a rock island where a large metal pipe was sticking out of the water.
“That is the first intake that was built to bring municipal water into the valley in 1970,” Pellegrino said.
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