A group of states that use water from the Colorado River is proposing a new way to break the deadlock in negotiations about the river’s future: bringing in a moderator. After states blew through a mid-February deadline for a new plan about sharing the river’s shrinking supply, the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Utah are calling for state leaders to return to the negotiating table and bring a moderator into the room. “I really would like to see the swords laid down,” Becky Mitchell, Colorado’s top water negotiator, told KJZZ. “Particularly the threats of litigation. That creates a scenario where it’s really hard to be creative.”

Other Colorado River management news:

• Arizona Daily Star (Tucson): Upper Colorado River states push for mediation on water cuts
• Las Vegas Review-Journal: Hoover Dam is headed for trouble under new emergency Colorado River plan
• Arizona Daily Star (Tucson): Lake Mead’s drops raise prospect of unaffordable Hoover Dam electricity
• Engineering News-Record: Colorado River states clear emergency water transfer as system nears hydropower floor
• Bloomberg: Colorado River water woes threaten Arizona’s AI boom
• The Center Square: Arizona GOP pushes to protect Colorado River’s limited water
• The Water Desk (University of Colorado, Boulder): Blog: The driest year revisited — five takeaways from 2002 for today’s Colorado River