News > The Southwest’s most important river is drying up

The Southwest’s most important river is drying up

22/08/2021 08:10 AM | Click to read full article

The Colorado river system supplies 40 million people in seven western states and Mexico, and irrigates more than 5 million acres of farmland on its way into Mexico and the Gulf of California.

But a crisis is unfolding, and farmers, scientists, water managers and policy makers across the Southwest are increasingly alarmed. Water managers have long recognized that the river is plagued by overuse. But over the last two decades, demand for the river’s water has often outstripped its supply. 

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