Time is running out to solve the Colorado River water crisis

A solution to the long-building Colorado River conflict is needed — now.

The Colorado River supplies water to roughly 35 million people in the American West and in Mexico. A mosaic of compacts, treaties, statutes and rules dating back to 1922, known as “The Law of the River,” divides the river’s water between the seven U.S. states in the Colorado River Basin and Mexico. The secretary of the Interior, through the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, exercises control over reservoir operations.