US considers imposing Colorado River water cuts to western states

Depending on the plan, either California would be the most affected, or Arizona and Nevada would be parched

The federal government on Tuesday laid out options for saving the Colorado River in an effort to prevent it from falling to critically low levels and put an end to months-long negotiations between the seven western states and Indigenous nations that rely on it as a dwindling resource.

As less and less water has been flowing through the river and its reservoirs fell to historic lows, the US Bureau of Reclamation, which manages water resources, called on the basin's seven states - California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming - to find ways to cut as much as 30% of their river water allocation.