By Elizabeth Zach, RCAC staff writer

A seven-state agreement aimed at reducing water use from the nearly dry Colorado River won approval from the U.S. Congress last week following years of stalemate among competing interests.

The Colorado River serves about 40 million people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. But the river’s reservoirs—Lakes Mead and Powel—are both nearly spent.

Because the river spans the seven states, the drought contingency plan required congressional and presidential approval.

“The drought created by climate change in the Southwest has made our area more arid, made water more precious and more finite, and we have to deal with that question,” Raul Grijalva, D-Arizona and chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said in stressing the agreement’s urgency.

To read more, go here: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/437922-house-approves-seven-state-colorado-river-deal-addressing-drought?mc_cid=d9eefd32e6&mc_eid=ca994af90e