The Latest Breaking News from Colorado River

The immediate question before the seven states that use rapidly vanishing Colorado River water is not how to renegotiate the century-old agreement and accompanying laws that divvy up the supply.

LOS ANGELES — The desiccation of the Colorado River has left Lake Powell, the country’s second-largest reservoir, at just 23% of capacity, its lowest level since it was filled in the 1960s.

LAS VEGAS — One of the Colorado River’s two major reservoirs is expected to collect better than average runoff this year, thanks to an unusually wet La Nina pattern that dropped a deluge of snow up and down the basin.

Arizona was girding for war with California over the Colorado River.

Al Jazeera speaks to UN expert Lis Mullin Bernhardt about need to adapt to historic drought’s impact on key US waterway.

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Golf courses. Ponds. Acres of grass. Cascading waterfalls. Displays of water extravagance zip past each day when Sendy Hernández Orellana Barrows drives to work.

BUCKEYE, Ariz. — Kathleen Ferris stared across a desert valley dotted with creosote bushes, wondering where the water will come from to supply tens of thousands of new homes. In the distance, a construction truck rumbled along a dirt road, spewing dust.

HOLTVILLE, Calif. — Just north of the California-Mexico border, the All-American Canal cuts across 80 miles of barren, dune-swept desert. Up to 200 feet wide and 20 feet deep, the canal delivers the single largest share of Colorado River water to the fertile farmlands of the Imperial Valley.

LAS VEGAS — Fountains still shimmer opulently at casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, but lush carpets of grass are gradually disappearing along the streets of Sin City.