LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — A critical deadline looms for Nevada and other states to come to a new agreement on Colorado River usage and conservation.
By November, the Department of Interior wants an agreement in place between the Lower Basin states of Nevada, California and Arizona, and Upper Basin states of Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.
The current agreement that was created in 2007 expires at the end of 2026. The DOI wants an agreement as soon as possible to conduct necessary environmental studies and other critical research.
Right now, there’s an impasse among member states. A spokesperson for the Southern Nevada Water Authority tells FOX5, conversations continue towards a resolution.
Nevada, California and Arizona have submitted a plan called the “supply-driven concept”: water availability would be determined by past three years. The three-year historical average flows would serve as the amount available each year, according to spokesperson Bronson Mack.
As the looming deadline inches closer, researchers with the Center for Colorado River Studies urge “immediate action” towards further conservation– or we move closer towards the collapse of the entire river system.
“We have a crisis right in front of our eyes right now and we suggested that we need to confront that,” said Professor Jack Schmidt of Utah State University.
A chronic challenge facing the Colorado River: more water is consumed by member states than what actually comes back in.
2025 was a dry year for the entire system.
“We’re well past consuming anything that came in in 2025, and now we’re back mining into what we had accrued in 2023. If next year is as dry as a preceding year, we will be lower than the all-time low that was reached in March of 2023. And that’s why it’s so serious,” Schmidt said.
Besides “Dead Pool”– the critical level where water can no longer flow in and out of Lake Powell or Lake Mead– Schmidt and study authors point to a rapidly-approaching major concern that could occur without further conservation: a lack of “readily accessible storage.” Researchers describe the storage as “the amount of water stored above the levels identified by Reclamation as critical for the safe operation” of Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams, according to the study.
Once those levels get depleted, Schmidt warns of “much more complicated water management” inching towards a worst- case scenario as levels continue to drop: “It’s just game over for power production,” he said.
In 1999, the system had 100% “readily accessible storage.” Current levels hover around 14%; by next year, if the system has another dry year, levels could drop to 6%, Schmidt said.
The SNWA supports the message of the study: all member states need to conserve more, a spokesperson tells FOX5.
Schmidt praised Southern Nevada as a true leader in water conservation efforts.
Could a future agreement lead to even more changes for Southern Nevadans?
A spokesperson said it’s too early to determine if Southern Nevadans will experience any more restrictions, but current measures have led to critical water savings for the state’s future.
Across Lake Mead and other storage systems, Nevada has saved 2.2 million acre-feet of water– or 10 years of water supplies for its residents to use in emergency scenarios.
In 2025, Nevadans used 1 billion gallons less than last year, Mack tells FOX5.
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