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Monday, August 03, 2026

Federal officials on Friday released an updated framework for the Colorado River, requiring Arizona, California and Nevada to significantly reduce their water use in the coming years.

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ICYMI 'This is terrifying': The Colorado River, a lifeline for seven states, is drying up at its source www.latimes.com/environment/ ...

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-- Ian James (@ianjames.bsky.social) 1:44 AM · Jul 20, 2026

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More from the article ...

... "The department has a responsibility to ensure the Colorado River system remains reliable and resilient for the millions of Americans, communities and industries that depend on it," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement. "This framework provides the flexibility to respond to changing hydrologic conditions while preserving the opportunity for the Basin States to continue working toward durable, consensus-based solutions." ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-01 02:33 PM | Reply

@#1 ... The department has a responsibility to ensure the Colorado River system remains reliable and resilient for the millions of Americans, communities and industries that depend on it ...

Maybe, then, look at climate change as a possible cause of the problem?


#2 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-01 02:34 PM | Reply | Funny: 1 | Newsworthy 1

Seen the building boom in Phoenix lately?

Has to be unsustainable.

#3 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-08-01 07:15 PM | Reply

@#3 ... Has to be unsustainable. ...

I see a similar thing around here.

Developers putting up massive apartments on narrow one-and-a-half lane roads, and then the developers tell the town, "deal with it."


Not nearly as bad as what may be happening in Phoenix, but similar.


#4 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-01 08:17 PM | Reply

I'm far from an expert on this, but this seems like a 'no s*&^' kind of directive.

#5 | Posted by jpw at 2026-08-01 08:37 PM | Reply

@#5

Yup.

The Colorado River has not enough water to support those who rely upon it.

But why might that be?

One view ...

As snowpacks shrink, temperatures rise, and less water flows into the Colorado River, we're facing a historic mega-drought that's worsening with climate change.
www.grandcanyontrust.org

#6 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-01 09:44 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

The federal government wants to destroy states that didn't vote for Trump.

Cutting water is the fastest way to do it.

Trump will kill California, one way or another.

#7 | Posted by ClownShack at 2026-08-01 09:50 PM | Reply

@#7

Yeah, but AZ and NV?

#8 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-01 09:54 PM | Reply


Trump will kill California, one way or another.

#7 | POSTED BY CLOWNSHACK

LOL Lumper logic,

The river is dry,
Trump offers a solution,
Trumps trying to kill CA.

Lumpers like HackAShack are idiot, Eberly was onto something.

#9 | Posted by oneironaut at 2026-08-01 11:30 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

Yeah, but AZ and NV?
#8 | POSTED BY LAMPLIGHTER

Collateral Damage.

#10 | Posted by ClownShack at 2026-08-02 02:50 AM | Reply

If a Democrat Administration did this, Republicans would have a cow.

#11 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-08-02 05:53 PM | Reply

#9

Ballwasher the ------- ------. ---- off, moron.

#12 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-08-03 12:27 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

I'm far from an expert on this, but this seems like a 'no s*&^' kind of directive.

#5 | Posted by jpw at 2026-08-01 08:37 PM | Reply | Flag:

You're a self-proclaimed expert on every damned thing else, why not just fake it till you make it like all the other ----. Dr with the pDh

#13 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2026-08-03 12:39 AM | Reply

The last thing to go will be the golf courses.

#14 | Posted by lee_the_agent at 2026-08-03 08:27 AM | Reply


I'm far from an expert on this, but this seems like a 'no s*&^' kind of directive.
#5 | Posted by jpw

Did you run it by our resident expert FrownHack? He seems to think Trump is giving it to CA.

#15 | Posted by oneironaut at 2026-08-03 10:05 AM | Reply

Trumps trying to kill CA.

#9 | POSTED BY ONEIRONAUT

Completely plausible, knowing what we do about Trump and his history of behavior.

Was it only six years ago that Trump refused help Blue states with COVID, wising them to suffer personally and politically?

Why yes, it was.

#16 | Posted by Zed at 2026-08-03 10:16 AM | Reply

For years I've been interested in investing into property in Arizona for an eventual retirement there.

But when you combine $500+ a square foot with this vulnerability with regards to water....it just isn't worth the risk.

#17 | Posted by eberly at 2026-08-03 10:19 AM | Reply

POSTED BY LFTHNDTHRDS

POSTED BY ONEIRONAUT

What I love about people like you is that every day you come here and behave as if Trump does not have a history; a blank slate.

It's a neat trick, really, and helps to paint the World's Worst Man (WWM) as an innocent victim.

Which, of course, the WWM wants you to do.

#18 | Posted by Zed at 2026-08-03 10:23 AM | Reply

POSTED BY LFTHNDTHRDS

POSTED BY ONEIRONAUT

Tell the truth. Is there some drug you take to help you do it?

#19 | Posted by Zed at 2026-08-03 10:26 AM | Reply

For years I've been interested in investing into property in Arizona
#17 | Posted by eberly

Aren't you the guy who says Obama must not believe in Global Warming since he bought beach front property?
Well, congratulations on figuring out that deserts are real, I guess.
Eberly 1, Obama 0.

#20 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-08-03 10:27 AM | Reply

"The Colorado River has not enough water to support those who rely upon it.
But why might that be?"

Because it's ridiculous that 40 million people as well as over 5 million acres farm ground rely on this single source of water.

#21 | Posted by eberly at 2026-08-03 10:35 AM | Reply

Because it's ridiculous that 40 million people as well as over 5 million acres farm ground rely on this single source of water.
#21 | Posted by eberly

So what's the plan, should we starve them out like we did the Indians?

#22 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-08-03 10:52 AM | Reply

"Cutting water is the fastest way to do it.
Trump will kill California, one way or another."

So what should we do, then? Not cut any water? Or...just not cut water to California, but cut the other 5 states that receive water from this source?

Maybe we should just do nothing. Just hope it snows more next year.

#23 | Posted by eberly at 2026-08-03 11:00 AM | Reply

"So what should we do, then? Not cut any water? Or...just not cut water to California, but cut the other 5 states that receive water from this source?

Maybe we should just do nothing. Just hope it snows more next year."

Are this the only choices you can think of? Why should we be limited to those choices?

How about stop leaks by lining ditches using pipes or concrete.
Or
Grow plants that need less water in dry months.
Or
Pay farmers to use less water so the river stays full.
Or
Use more recycled water.
Or.
Catch and store more rainwater.
Or
More desalination plants


And of course water conservation programs.

Doing a lot of nothing for too long is what got us here.

#24 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-08-03 11:15 AM | Reply

www.youtube.com

#25 | Posted by eberly at 2026-08-03 11:40 AM | Reply

-Are this the only choices you can think of? Why should we be limited to those choices?

no and no

#26 | Posted by eberly at 2026-08-03 11:42 AM | Reply

State like California refuse to collect snow runoff or build new aquifers in order to protect the Delta smelt. But, cut access to a river that is being bled dry and now you've gone too far!

#27 | Posted by BellRinger at 2026-08-03 11:50 AM | Reply

It's not just a California problem Dingaling.

There are things all the states involved need to be better at.

Southern California could get water from the north of its own state if push came to shove. Which it just may come to. Some shoving.

If the river ran dry where would Arizona and Nevada get its water from?

#28 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-08-03 11:59 AM | Reply

Folks in Arizona SWEAR up and down that they have enough ground water to get through any drought. Uh huh. As a regular visitor to those lands, here's how I see this playing out:
-The Saudi hay being grown in Arizona will no longer be grown
-That fountain at the Bellagio--dry
-effluent water will be more widely used to water golf courses (as it has been in Tucson for decades)
-the 'federal water' which flows into older neighborhoods in Phoenix, formerly to irrigate orange groves but now for peoples yards, well that will no longer flow
-the xeriscapes so common in Tucson will be common throughout the Southwest
-low-flow toilets will be mandated by law. And flush only on #2
-those watering their lawns or washing their cars will be fined bigly
-rain barrels--gotta have 'em
-those misting systems to provide evaporative cooling on peoples' porches will be shut off and torn out
-Cattle in Arizona--not any more
-Fracking?!? With what water?

Lifestyles are about to change, bigly. Complainers and scofflaws will be tied up to a cactus and left there...

#29 | Posted by catdog at 2026-08-03 06:58 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

The water coming out of my tap borders on actually being unpalatable now. Not necessarily from critters, but the #@$% mineral content. I bought this drafty old trailer in 2013, and the kitchen tap (inevitably to be replaced when I can afford it), will be the third one. The other two lasted around 4 years before the deposits rendered them completely blocked. The snowfall last winter was almost non-existent--unlike the two years previous where there was so much snow, I thought spring would never come. I'm north of Phoenix. Lord knows where they get their water from.

#30 | Posted by dutch46 at 2026-08-03 07:04 PM | Reply

A couple of years ago, my wife and I were seriously considering a move to New Mexico.

Sadly, the future of water availability made us abandon that idea.

#31 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-08-03 07:33 PM | Reply

Yeah, but AZ and NV?
#8 | POSTED BY LAMPLIGHTER

Both went for Biden in 2020

#32 | Posted by Nixon at 2026-08-04 11:26 AM | Reply

related?

Contractors building border wall ordered to stop drilling wells in drought-stricken New Mexico
apnews.com

... The Trump administration has ordered construction crews on a border wall to stop drilling wells in drought-stricken New Mexico after ranchers said pumping groundwater needed to make concrete could threaten their livestock.

The order comes as crews across the southern border race to complete one of President Donald Trump's highest domestic priorities -- barriers that span four states and received over $46 billion in federal funding. Controversies have sprouted up in Texas and California, with border-town residents and environmentalists reporting a wide variety of issues with construction.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees border wall construction, has said water is needed to make concrete for roads, wall construction and dust suppression. Cattle ranchers in the area say the drought has already forced them to reduce their herd size.

"It would put us in an immediate catastrophe and having to do something with our livestock. I mean, it could potentially put some people out of business, us included," said Russell Johnson, a cattle rancher whose property runs along the border. ...



#33 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-04 12:13 PM | Reply

@#32

thx for the correction.

#34 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-08-04 12:15 PM | Reply

Or
More desalination plants

I've wondered why we don't use more desalination on the west coast. Is it the terrain? I understand there's a high energy consumption, but surely we're already using a great deal of energy moving water from the Colorado River.

#35 | Posted by El_Buscador at 2026-08-04 01:20 PM | Reply

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