Fears are growing in the Colorado River basin about the prospect of painful water cuts, prolonged court battles and other dire impacts after negotiators from seven states missed a second key deadline Saturday to reach a conservation deal. … Conservation groups want the states in the basin to start using tools like conservation pools, which would offer new incentives to voluntarily cut back and save water, and a climate response indicator to help determine how much water should be released from Lake Powell. Releases would be curtailed in response to drought conditions. But those ideas aimed at protecting the river’s health could be stalled if states don’t come up with an agreement to implement before the current operating guidelines at Lake Powell and Lake Mead expire this fall.

Other Colorado River news:

• KUNR (Reno, Nev.): 2025 brought record drought, wildfires and windstorms to the Mountain West, report finds
• KTAR (Phoenix): What’s next for Arizona, other Colorado River basin states after water deal deadline passes?
• Pagosa Daily Post (Pagosa Springs, Colo.): Editorial: Cows, and the slow demise of the Colorado River