Biden administration proposes water supply cuts to western states amidst Colorado River crisis.

The US Bureau of Reclamation has proposed a set of options for distributing cuts from the Colorado River, including one that would evenly assign reductions among lower basin states, forcing users in California to shoulder more of the load. The proposals would amend 2007 guidelines that govern cuts in the event of a shortage as climate change and other factors threaten the river, which provides drinking water to 40 million people in seven states and 30 tribal nations. The Colorado River basin is in the midst of a 23-year drought that ranks as the region's worst in 1,200 years.