Who uses the most water from the Colorado River?

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 an important water resource for areas outside of the basin, including Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Los Angeles, and San Diego for public (municipal) supply, and the Imperial Valley in California for agricultural water supplies.

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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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Climate change, a rising population, and unsustainable consumption of water in the southwest are threatening the very existence of the Colorado River that's been running through the center of the Grand Canyon for six million years.

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Only about 10 percent of all the water that flows into the Colorado River makes it into Mexico and most of that is used by the Mexican people for farming.

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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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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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