Nevada vows to ‘fight like hell’ if Colorado River share is unfairly cut

While depleting aquifers without any care for sustainability. 

Feels like it was a bad idea to populate a place with a temperature range between literally freezing and 115F all while it gets 90% of its water from a shared source on it's southernmost tip AND that water relies on yearly snowmelt FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE. All so we can support gambling and gold mining (essentially the only mentionable things produced by Nevada). But yeah, let's be pissed about farmers farming.

In a nutshell, when the water from the Colorado River was allocated 100 years ago, the agreement had a base level that used higher than average year of rainfall (unknown to them at the time). Everything worked until farming in Arizona and California grew to the point they were taking more than their allocated amount of water in the 90's. But since upper basin states were not using their full allocation, the system still functioned. Allocations based on incorrect data was not an issue. Plenty of water for all. Fast forward to 2026. States have to renegotiate a new agreement for allocating the water. The reality is that there is not enough water to satisfy everyone's allocation now. Lake Mead Dam provides a huge reservoir that powers Las Vegas. The recent drought years have dropped the water level at the reservoir so low that next year they are predicting that the intake for the power plant will be above the water line. Which will be a problem. Unfortunately, each of the 9 states involved say that they are already cutting everything they can. But the lower basin states are vastly overdrawing their water allocations, which provide water for all of the US produce industry in California as well as wasteful alfalfa farms in the desert in Arizona that are owned by Saudi Arabia (and provide nothing for the US but happily take c**** water). The upper basin states (WY,CO,UT,NM) do not currently use their full allocation and argue that their farmers still need the ability to use that allocation in the future in an exceptionally dry year. Like 2026. No state is willing to concede anything and they missed their legal deadline in February to renegotiate the agreement by themselves. So now the federal government gets to decide how to reduce every state's allocation of the Colorado River. There are going to be draconian cuts for farmers and cities in the southwest. It is about to get ugly for everyone involved. States kept kicking the can down the road, thinking someone else will solve the problem. Now it is time to pay the piper. Less water = less farm production which means higher prices for everything.

I’ll bring the IVs and silver spray paint.

'as long as i kick the can hard enough that we dont get to it til after i die, what is the problem?'

Yeah imagine their position if they where the first state and some liberal state was last

So they have to listen to shitty commercials between showers?