Lake Powell, a vital reservoir, plunges toward unprecidented low levels as water crisis deepens in US west

According to The Guardian, Lake Powell — the second-largest reservoir in the United States — is on track to fall to unprecedented lows this year, deepening the water crisis across the American south-west. A historically bleak snowpack failed to replenish it, and the reservoir now sits at about twenty-three percent of capacity, roughly five point six million acre-feet. It briefly dipped that low three years ago, but that was in winter, at the system's natural low point, before spring runoff pushed it back up to nine point six million acre-feet. This time there's no such rebound in sight. Experts say the Colorado River system, relied on by tens of millions of people, is careening toward a breaking point as the region grows hotter and drier — and talks over how to conserve the water remain stalled.

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