Does Colorado rely on the Colorado River?

The Colorado River is a critical resource in the West, because seven basin states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming) depend on it for water supply, hydropower production, recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, and other benefits.



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Colorado receives 40% of its water supply from the Colorado River.

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Colorado receives 40% of its water supply from the Colorado River.

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If the water levels dip much lower, the Colorado's northernmost reservoir won't have enough in the tank to both fill Lake Mead downstream and generate any hydropower, which would have devastating effects on the electricity grid in the western US.

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California — with the largest allocation of water from the river — is the lone holdout. Officials said the state would release its own plan. The Colorado River and its tributaries pass through seven states and into Mexico, serving 40 million people and a $5 billion-a-year agricultural industry.

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About 85–90 percent of the Colorado River's discharge originates in melting snowpack from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. The three major upper tributaries of the Colorado – the snow-fed Gunnison, Green, and San Juan – alone deliver almost 9 million acre-feet (11 km3) per year to the main stem.

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The Colorado River is drying up due to a combination of chronic overuse of water resources and a historic drought. The dry period has lasted more than two decades, spurred by a warming climate primarily due to humans burning fossil fuels.

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Supply. Colorado is known as the Headwaters State because several of the West's most important rivers rise in its Rocky Mountains. Colorado has eight major river basins and several aquifers. The majority of the water supply falls as snow in the Rocky Mountains.

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What happens if Lake Mead dries up forever? If Lake Mead were to run out of water, the Hoover Dam would no longer be able to generate power or provide water to surrounding cities and farms. The Colorado River would essentially stop flowing, and the Southwest would be in a major water crisis.

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The Colorado River Aqueduct can deliver 1 billion gallons of water per day to cities in Southern California. In order to conserve the Sierras snowpack, more water is being imported from the Colorado River. About half of Los Angeles' water flows from the Colorado River via the Colorado River Aqueduct.

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