The Colorado River’s average annual flow shrunk 20 percent in the last 30 years—half of that is directly attributable to climate change. The impact throughout the Basin is clear especially when considering that its two large reservoirs—Lake Mead and Lake Powell—are at all-time lows. Lake Powell is hovering at about 24 percent of full storage capacity. The water surface is roughly 60 feet above the level at which hydropower can no longer be produced and water can no longer reliably pass through Glen Canyon Dam (known as dead pool) on its way downstream through the Grand Canyon to Lake Mead. For context, Powell’s water surface elevation has dropped over 60 feet since fall of 2020. Lake Mead is approximately 27 percent full and roughly 40 feet from dead pool. The ecosystem is suffering and critical habitat disappearing—Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Bell’s Vireo, and native fish species populations are all in decline. Water users and managers have been developing...