![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SilvertonColorado2026-1024x575.jpg\")
The town of Silverton, Colo., perched at 9,318 feet above sea level in the San Juan Mountains, is free of snow on March 14, 2026. (Mitch Tobin\/The Water Desk)<\/p>\n
Failing to strike a deal so far, federal officials are prepared to impose their own plan<\/a> \u2014 a prospect, many agree, all but ensures a tangle of competing lawsuits and court rulings that fall short of expectations and the river system\u2019s changing hydrological realities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have offered every tool that we have,\u201d Colorado Water Conservation Board Director Becky Mitchell said during Tuesday\u2019s meeting. \u201cWe\u2019ve offered releases from our upstream reservoirs, a basin-wide contribution program and a generous release curve from Lake Powell that puts greater risk on Powell, particularly in the short term.\u201d<\/p>\n Lower-basin states, Mitchell added, need to go beyond their proposed water-use cuts to \u201cadapt to the new normal,\u201d which includes higher losses due to evaporation.<\/p>\n One major rub between the lower- and upper-basin states, for decades, has centered on water use, according to Kathryn Sorensen, director of research at the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University\u2019s Morrison Institute for Public Policy. While stakeholders downstream are using their full allocations, upstream states like Wyoming have not \u2014 and they want to protect their potential full allocation. So when negotiations narrow to whether both sides are equally feeling the pain of cuts in water use, the lower-basin stakeholders say their proposed sacrifices far outweigh those offered upstream.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth arguments have some reasonableness, and that\u2019s one of the reasons why we are where we are and negotiations have stalled,\u201d Sorensen told WyoFile. \u201cFundamentally, this is an existential battle over whether the lower-basin states get to continue using full allocations, or whether [upper-basin states] get to increase uses to the detriment of the lower basin, because it looks like there\u2019s not enough water for both.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to striking a new, long-term drought operations protocol, stakeholders \u2014 along with the federal Bureau of Reclamation \u2014 are contemplating stop-gap measures to share the pain of a climate-driven<\/a> hydrological disaster unfolding in the region.<\/p>\n A severe lack of snow this winter, combined with blistering, historically high temperatures<\/a>, demands immediate action, New Mexico\u2019s Lopez said. Extra releases in the upper basin to help deliver water downstream and sustain hydroelectric generation at Lake Powell, which includes backup water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir<\/a> on the Wyoming-Utah border, need to happen as soon as possible \u201cif we\u2019re going to be able to get the full benefit of those activities,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve mentioned over and over, the situation is dire.\u201d<\/p>\n What does it mean for Wyoming?<\/p>\n In addition to a significant, extra water release from Flaming Gorge this spring<\/a>, locals in the southwestern portion of the state worry about future \u201ccalls\u201d for mandatory water-use restrictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Such \u201ccalls\u201d are imposed on a pecking order of senior-versus-junior water rights. Those who acquired their water rights most recently are the first to be ordered to close their spigots. In southwest Wyoming, those junior water rights include municipalities and industrial facilities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have 2,300 employees at risk in southwest Wyoming if we don\u2019t find a solution,\u201d Jody Levin, speaking on behalf of the trona industry<\/a> and the Wyoming Mining Association, told Wyoming lawmakers earlier this year<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n While the state has initiated water efficiency and voluntary water conservation efforts to help in the overall Colorado River effort, Gebhart said, the state intends \u2014 as Sorensen noted above \u2014 to protect its existing rights to tap its full allocation of Colorado River-bound water.<\/p>\n \u201cThat authority is not open for negotiation,\u201d Gebhart told WyoFile via email. \u201cAs such, Wyoming continues to consider new applications for water use in accordance with Wyoming\u2019s constitution and statutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe also continue to pursue and support increased efficiency of existing uses,\u201d he added. \u201cAs such, new permits and new uses don\u2019t necessarily result in increased total use.\u201d<\/p>\n Some observers assert the upper-basin states fail to recognize that new permits to pump groundwater that can be considered part of the Colorado River system, for example, make their claims of conserving water \u201cring hollow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRegulators in those states are actively approving new uses,\u201d Great Basin Water Network Executive Director Kyle Roerink told WyoFile. \u201cUntil we collectively understand the deleterious nature of that permitting, we are just spinning our wheels.\u201d<\/p>\n From bad to worse<\/p>\n The Colorado River has long been considered overly prescribed<\/a> for what it can deliver \u2014 the result of a 1922 compact<\/a>, growing demands on the system and a changing climate.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Flaming-Gorge-docks-Sept-26-2022-DBleizeffer-1024x678.jpg\")
Buckboard Marina owner Tony Valdez, seen here Sept. 26, 2022, says he\u2019s made continual adjustments to boat docks to keep up with lowering water levels at Flaming Gorge Reservoir. (Dustin Bleizeffer\/WyoFile)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Upper-Colorado-snow-water-equivalent-2026-copy-1024x467.jpg\")
The snow-water equivalent of the Upper Colorado River Basin stood at 42% of the median as of March 24, 2026. (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service)<\/p>\n