At Colorado River water meetings, there are more inquiries than answers.

At a meeting of Colorado River water managers and consumers from seven U.S. states, Native American tribes, and Mexico who rely on the drying river affected by drought and climate change, important topics arose on Thursday.

Who will suffer the most from further water supply reductions, and how soon?

What benchmarks must be reached before the federal government intervenes in order for the seven states that depend on the river to reduce their water consumption voluntarily?

Once snowfall from the Rocky Mountains enters the system and starts flowing to Mexico, how can water evaporation be controlled?

“I lack solutions. During a discussion regarding the condition of the river, Ted Cooke, general manager of the Central Arizona Project, remarked, “I simply have questions right now.

The agency, which oversees canals that provide water to most of Arizona, was the first to see last year’s drought-induced reductions in river water flow.

The Colorado River supplies 40 million people in the United States with drinking water, irrigates millions of acres of farmland, and generates electricity.

Chuck Cullom, executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission, noted on the same panel that “collective painful action is essential now.”

The river feeds three so-called Lower Basin states, namely California, Arizona, and Nevada, as well as the four headwater states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Mexico and tribes both have water rights.

The topic of user participation to address shortages has been discussed in sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. The symposium, however, has been dominated by statistics indicating that less water flows into the river than is extracted from it. Furthermore, the annual meeting at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas has a crisis-like feel to it after more than two decades of drought and climate change.

Regarding a domino effect of shortages that would be felt first by organizations with junior water rights moving up to those with senior standing, Cullom remarked, “The alternative to inactivity is cruel and utterly evident.” We agree that all states, industries, and tribes must participate.

A deadline for public comment on a federal Bureau of Reclamation project scheduled to provide a final report by summer on how to preserve around 15% of river water now given to beneficiaries is coming up next Tuesday. Other deadlines for what to do are also quickly approaching.

The Bureau of Reclamation’s deputy commissioner of operations, David Palumbo, expressed optimism for solutions at the conference panel discussion with Cooke and Cullom on Thursday. These include estimates of the river’s water flow, the impact of shifting river flows on the Grand Canyon, the proper way for authorities to implement cutbacks, and public health and safety concerns.

The possibility of limiting population increase was not mentioned. According to Cooke, market forces rather than the government should choose who goes where.

People have the freedom to make good or terrible decisions, he said, including relocating to a location that may not have access to water.

The bureau uses waterworks, including the two biggest reservoirs in the country, Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam on the Nevada-Arizona state boundary and Lake Powell created by Glen Canyon Dam on the Arizona-Utah border, to regulate the flow of the river.

Midway through 1999, Lake Mead was completely full. It is now 28% filled. At 25%, Lake Powell hasn’t reached its maximum capacity since June 1980.

According to a 1968 deal that provided the state junior rights to river water in return for U.S. money to construct a 336-mile (540-kilometer) canal to its main towns, water supplies were curtailed to Arizona and Nevada for the first time last year, mostly hurting farmers in Arizona.

Top-down regulations set by the bureau might be overridden by later agreements and the shares that states agreed to accept in 1922. Blockbuster announcements are not anticipated, despite the fact that Friday’s speakers will include the bureau commissioner Camille Touton and two senior Interior Department officials.

Reclamation authorities informed the seven states in June that they would need to make further cuts and left it up to them to find methods to reduce the 15% next year, or face limitations. Additionally, the federal government has allotted billions of dollars to assist towns reduce their water usage and to compensate farmers to leave their fields fallow.

Brenda Burman, a former director of the Bureau of Reclamation, remarked on “Colorado River 101” on Wednesday, “We’re utilizing more than we have.”

“A number of cutbacks may be in the cards. Many changes may be in store for us, she warned.

Burman, the bureau’s director, had informed the Water Users Association four years before that action was required to address the drought. She will take over Cooke’s position as general manager of the Central Arizona Project once he retires.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board’s Becky Mitchell voiced irritation on Thursday that many are unaware that water is collected in the states of the Upper Basin and then distributed by the organization in the states of the Lower Basin.

She said that residents of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming “live within the limits of the river every day.”

General Manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority based in Las Vegas, John Entsminger, compared dealing with the effects of the drought on the Colorado River to a national emergency like a hurricane in Florida and suggested that the federal government could use national emergency funds to make investments.

When use and allocations are taken into account, Entsminger also said that it is time to track the quantity of water lost to evaporation.

He said, “We have not taken into consideration the quantity of water we are losing from the system. “We don’t care whether you call it strawberry shortcake, system losses, or evaporation. Perform the analysis and the calculations.