The Colorado River is managed like a joint bank account — seven states have equal shares of two basins, and not a single drop of water is overlooked. Lake Powell in Utah and Lake Mead in Nevada manage the fortune; when drought hits, and the budget is low, the stress of being down on funds is shared among account partners. … When the Colorado River Compact was established in 1922, it allocated 7.5 million acre-feet of water per year, or 75 million acre-feet over 10 years, to each of the two basins. However, the river’s strain from population growth in certain areas, agricultural demands and the impacts of climate change have decreased the flow significantly, often delivering less than the initially intended amount.

Other Colorado River articles:

• Deseret News/Colorado River Collaborative: Will Lake Powell become Lake Mud? Inside the growing sediment crisis
• Choices Magazine: Climate and choice in the Colorado River Basin
• Austin Monitor: Austin Watershed Protection Department proposes code updates to further protect the Colorado River
• Equities.com: On the Colorado River, water rights are more valuable than gold 
• Inkstain blog: The Colorado River problem, in brief