States reliant on Colorado River fail to meet the latest deadline to
find consensus
[February 16, 2026]
PHOENIX (AP) — The seven Western states that depend on the Colorado
River missed a deadline for the second time Saturday to agree on a plan
addressing record drought and water shortages.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Nevada Gov.
Joe Lombardo released a joint statement calling on Upper Basin states to
offer more concessions. Those states include Colorado, New Mexico, Utah
and Wyoming.
“The Colorado River is essential to our communities and economies, and
our states have conserved large volumes of water in recent years to
stabilize the basin’s water supplies for years to come,” the governors
said. “Our stance remains firm and fair: all seven basin states must
share in the responsibility of conservation.”
Arizona, California and Nevada have offered to decrease Colorado River
allocation by 27%, 10% and 17%, respectively, according to those states.
Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper. who helped negotiate a river
contingency plan in 2019 as governor, called the situation in the
Colorado Basin “dire," pointing to the state's low snowpack.
"If we don’t address this problem together –- head-on and fast –- our
communities, farms, and economies will suffer. The best path forward is
the one we take together. Litigation won’t solve the problem of this
long-term aridification," Hickenlooper said in a statement.
John Entsminger, the general manager of the Southern Nevada Water
Authority, also expressed frustration at the lack of progress.
“The actions we have taken over the past two-plus decades are less about
raising Lake Mead’s elevation than they are about protecting ourselves
if things go from bad to worse,” Entsminger said in a statement.
The states previously let pass a November deadline set by the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation to devise a strategy to face water shortages after
this year, when current guidelines will expire.
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The Colorado River in the upper River Basin is seen, May 29, 2021,
in Lees Ferry, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
Over 40 million people across these states along with Mexico and
Native American tribes rely on Colorado River water. The river is
crucial to farming as well as water and electricity for millions of
homes and businesses. Much of the water starts out as winter
mountain snowfall in the Upper Basin, which amasses far more that
way than it consumes. Lower Basin states, including
agriculture-heavy regions, are bigger consumers.
Major cities including Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Las
Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles, are also big water consumers.
Chronic overuse, drought and rising temperatures linked to climate
change have lessened water flows.
How the water is allocated — especially in dry spells — and
conserved has been the center of agreements among the states for
decades. The original 1922 Colorado River Compact was calculated
based on water amounts that doesn’t exist today, especially with the
long-term drought.
The current round of negotiations among states have been going on
over two years.
If no consensus can be reached, the federal government could step in
and devise a plan that leaves parties dissatisfied and could even
result in litigation.
Scientists recently found snow cover and snow depth in the West are
at their lowest in decades. Some areas have seen their warmest
December through early February. Normally, snow cover this time of
year spans 460,000 square miles — about the size of California,
Utah, Idaho and Montana. But, this year it is only California-sized,
about 155,000 square miles, according to the National Snow and Ice
Data Center.
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