When Colby Pellegrino started working for Southern Nevada Water Authority 22 years ago, Lake Mead was about 80 percent full. And as a Las Vegas native, she has seen the lake at even higher levels.

"When I was born, there was water going over the spillways at Hoover Dam ... '83 and '84 were the last years we sent water over the spillways," Pellegrino said.

This year, Southern Nevada Water Authority says the lake is about 33 percent full. Southern Nevada experienced average precipitation and snowpack in the last year, resulting in low runoff into the lake. With hotter and drier weather, the snowpack is increasingly lost to evaporation and plants before it makes it into the reservoir. 

"There’s a lot of disagreement on who’s responsible 

for making the cuts necessary to deal with it." 

- Colby Pellegrino, Deputy General Manager of Resources

Southern Nevada Water Authority

Another factor is the increased number of people, infrastructure and farms that draw water from the Colorado River.

Forty million people in seven states rely on the Colorado River. Currently, these states follow interim rules created in 2007 that govern the river’s operational policies. Those guidelines are set to expire in 2026. 

The Bureau of Reclamation is expected to put out a draft environmental impact statement this summer, a step needed so negotiators can work on state-level plans. Pellegrino says this round of negotiations has been challenging.

"Now, as we’re continually asked to use less and less and less, the bigger those cuts get, the more painful they are to the local economies, the water users, the states that rely upon that for their economic output," she said. 

"So I don’t think anyone disagrees on the magnitude of the problem. There’s a lot of disagreement on who’s responsible for making the cuts necessary to deal with it."

Pellegrino says all seven states are engaged in the negotiation process. If agreements aren’t met, she says the negotiations could go to litigation, creating even more uncertainty around the future of the Colorado River.

"The best path forward is to agree together 

[rather] than to fight it out in court." 

- Colby Pellegrino, Deputy General Manager of Resources

Southern Nevada Water Authority
 

“As a water manager, particularly of such a dry city like the Las Vegas area, I would like to know how much reduction we’re taking, even if it’s not everything I want," Pellegrino said. "It’s significantly better than the uncertainty left with litigation.”  

“I think all seven states agree on the magnitude of the problem. But we have yet to agree on how those reductions get divided up. But I think everyone’s still working together, there’s a whole lot of people on this river that agree the best path forward is to agree together [rather] than to fight it out in court.”