Arizona Drought

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, another sign of the crisis plaguing the Colorado River system.

Federal officials will not release cool water from Glen Canyon Dam, which would have protected a threatened native fish downstream but put more strain on already struggling hydropower production.

Arizona, California and Nevada would take less water from the Colorado River under a proposal announced Friday by the federal government to stave off crisis in the beleaguered waterway.

Releases from Glen Canyon Dam into the Colorado River are low. But if they fall much more, commercial river rafters worry it could change their livelihoods and the nature of boating in the Grand Canyon.

It's not clear yet how the money would be distributed among several states in a river basin where political fights and an impasse over how to share water long-term have persisted even during historic drought.

A federal hydrologist appeared to be momentarily at a loss for words Thursday as he described how dire the latest forecast has gotten for how much water will flow through the Colorado River Basin this summer.

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

The move, by the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona and California would give rights of nature to the water, marking a historic first.

The National Drought Mitigation Center says nearly half of Arizona is in extreme drought, including most of Gila and Mohave counties and the southern portions of Yavapai, Coconino, Navajo and Apache counties.

Federal water managers recently discovered damage to plumbing inside the dam that holds back Lake Powell. Conservation groups are worried the damage at Glen Canyon Dam could lead to bigger issues for the Colorado River.