As we await Friday’s (Aug. 15, 2025) release of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Colorado River 24-Month Study, we need to remember a painful lesson of the last five years of crisis management: whatever you see in Reclamation’s report of the “Most Probable” reservoir levels for the next two years, we must prepare for things to be much worse. A year ago, Reclamation’s “Most Probable” forecast told us to expect Lake Powell to hold 10.36 million acre feet of water at the end of July 2025, with a surface elevation 3,593 feet above sea level. Actual storage in Powell at the end of July was 7.46 maf, 2.9 million acre feet less, and the reservoir is 38 feet lower, than the “Most Probable” forecast.

Other Colorado River Basin news:

• KREX/Western Slope Now (Grand Junction, Colo.): Fighting salt: protecting crops from natural buildup in the Colorado River
• FOX13 (Salt Lake City, Utah): Low water levels force closure of Lake Powell boat ramps
• WyoFile: Wyoming advances land exchange for proposed West Fork Dam
• KJCT (Grand Junction, Colo.): The Colorado River and its necessary infrastructure
• KLAS/8NewsNow (Las Vegas, Nev.): Las Vegas valley’s water use more efficient; SNWA’s goal is a 10% improvement