MoreShow more sectionsFeaturesEconomyHuman RightsClimate CrisisInvestigationsInteractivesIn PicturesScience & TechnologyPodcastsTravelSponsored Content The proposal comes as the river faces a historic water shortage, with reservoirs dropping to levels not seen since 1957. Three western states in the United States would take less water from the Colorado River under a federal proposal to stave off a crisis in the beleaguered waterway. On Friday, the US Bureau of Reclamation issued a proposal that would spare four other states from facing mandatory cuts for now.

list 1 of 3California water wars: A century of wrangling over Los Angeles’s water list 2 of 3Satellite images show 10 places where water is disappearing globally list 3 of 3With water cuts looming in Arizona in US, locals fight data centres It is meant to be flexible, allowing deeper cuts in drier times while giving the states more time to collectively agree on how to manage the dwindling resource that flows through dams to produce hydropower. The Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada could together be forced to reduce their use by up to 3 million acre-feet (130 billion cubic feet) annually through 2036 — about the amount that Arizona and Nevada receive and enough to serve more than 25 million people a year.