US presents plan to share water from drought-stricken Colorado River

The U.S. government announced on Friday proposed guidelines for sharing ​the drought-stricken Colorado River, which provides water to one in ‌10 Americans, irrigates land producing 15% of U.S. food output and generates power for 6 million people in seven states.

Those seven states — Colorado, New Mexico, ​Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, California and Nevada, known as the basin ​states — were unable to agree on how to share ⁠the waters after over three years of talks to replace a ​plan that expires this year.

So the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation intervened ​with a 10-year proposal through 2036 designed to provide flexibility to operate the river's two largest energy-producing reservoirs — Lake Powell and Lake Mead — based on the ​river's changing conditions, according to a final environmental impact statement released ​by the agency.