The Colorado River’s massive reservoirs are now so depleted that another dry year could send them plunging to dangerously low levels, a group of prominent scholars warns in a new analysis. The researchers are urging the Trump administration to intervene and impose substantial cutbacks in water use across the seven states that rely on the river — California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. … If next year turns out to be a repeat of this year, they wrote, total water use would exceed the river’s natural flow by at least 3.6 million acre feet — nearly as much as California used in all last year.

Other Colorado River Basin news:

• The Colorado Sun (Denver): Colorado water officials prepare to  weigh environmental benefits of powerful Shoshone water rights on the Colorado River
• 12News (Phoenix, Ariz.): Colorado River crisis worsens, experts warn
• ABC15 (Phoenix, Ariz.): Arizona water negotiations ongoing as Trump nominee stalled in Senate
• Vail Daily (Colo.): Opinion: Why declining aquifers in Colorado matter