Colorado River management plans to be determined by government after negotiations stall

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. The federal government is moving forward with plans on how to manage the Colorado River after states failed to reach an agreement. PHOENIX – The federal government is stepping in to help resolve a long-running dispute between seven Western states and 30 tribal nations over access to the shrinking Colorado River, as negotiators miss multiple deadlines to reach a new water management agreement. The river supplies drinking water and irrigation to tens of millions of people across the West, but the system that divides its water, based on agreements more than a century old, is under increasing strain after years of drought and declining reservoir levels. Interim guidelines used for nearly two decades to manage shortages are set to expire at the end of the year. Without consensus among states, the Department of the Interior is moving forward with its own p