2026-08-21T23:58:00-0400 / 哥伦比亚广播公司/美联社
联邦官员周五宣布，将在未来两年对依赖濒临枯竭的科罗拉多河的三个西部州实施大幅限水。
根据美国垦务局的计划，加州、内华达州和亚利桑那州在此期间将 collectively 每年减少125万英亩英尺的用水量，同时可能根据实际情况进一步加大限水力度。
亚利桑那州将面临最严厉的限水措施，而上游的科罗拉多州、犹他州、怀俄明州和新墨西哥州目前暂不限水。
与此同时，根据美墨条约，邻国墨西哥也将减少25万英亩英尺的取水额度。
“我们已经经历了26年的长期干旱，”美国内政部水利与科学助理部长安德里亚·特拉夫尼切克说道，“我们未来仍将面临长期干旱。因此，整个流域内各方携手合作将极为重要。”
据美国垦务局数据，科罗拉多河为约3500万至4000万人提供供水。
当前管理科罗拉多河水资源的规则将于10月到期，而七个州长期以来未能就水资源分配达成共识。
去年冬季，科罗拉多河流域遭遇有记录以来最严重的积雪不足，进一步加剧了农民、工业、野生动物、水力发电企业以及依靠这条河道取水的数千万民众的用水压力，其中包括数十个原住民部落和墨西哥的两个州。
多年来的过度用水叠加干旱和气候变化导致的气温上升，已经耗尽了美国两座由科罗拉多河供水的最大水库的储水量。米德湖近期跌至其90年前开始蓄水以来的最低水位，鲍威尔湖也在约一周后创下同样新低。两座水库的总储水量降至近70年来的最低点。
如果鲍威尔湖的水位再下降33英尺，该水库将无法达到水力发电所需的水位标准，意味着水将无法通过大坝注入科罗拉多河。
亚利桑那州的谈判代表感谢加州和内华达州在分摊限水额度方面的合作。
“对于2027年和2028年，如今敲定的削减额度将为民众提供可观的稳定性，”亚利桑那州水资源部主任汤姆·布施查茨克说道，“我们将继续谈判，商讨如何在更长期限内运营水资源，这也是我们所有人的愿望。”
加州科罗拉多河问题首席谈判代表JB·汉比表示，该计划在这场空前风险的时刻带来了“一些迫切需要的短期确定性”，不过他同时称这只是“一座桥梁，而非永久性解决方案”。
内华达州官员对与亚利桑那州和加州的合作表示赞赏，并表示达成七州共识仍是他们解决科罗拉多河问题的首选路径。
在南内华达州，保护组织大盆地水利网络高级顾问凯尔·罗林克表示，当地新建机场、购物中心的项目以及部分公共土地出售计划均未取得进展，这反映出联邦文件中明确的严峻水文形势。他还称，进一步的限水措施可能会放缓拉斯维加斯都会区的房地产开发进度。
“胡佛大坝作为美国毅力和实力的象征，水位下降、风光不再时，确实令人不安，”罗林克说道，“但这也可能为我们提供了一个绝佳机会，让我们以有意义的方式为未来百年做好准备。”
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/running-dry-the-fight-for-the-wests-dwindling-water-supply-60-minutes-archive/
干涸：为西部日渐枯竭的供水而战 | 《60分钟》档案
(时长13:17)
Drastic water cuts issued for California, Nevada and Arizona from drought-stricken Colorado River
2026-08-21T23:58:00-0400 / CBS/AP
Federal officials announced sharp water cuts for the next two years on Friday for three Western states that rely on the imperiled Colorado River.
Under the Bureau of Reclamation’s plan, California, Nevada and Arizona will collectively reduce water use by 1.25 million acre-feet annually during that period, with the possibility of larger cuts depending on conditions.
Arizona will see the biggest cuts, while states upstream — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico — do not face any for now.
Meanwhile, neighboring Mexico will reduce its intake by 250,000 acre-feet under a U.S.-Mexico treaty.
“We’ve been in this 26-year prolonged drought period,” said Andrea Travnicek, the Interior Department’s assistant secretary for water and science. “We continue to see a prolonged drought in our future. So continuing to work together as a whole within the basin is going to be extremely important.”
The Colorado River serves as a water supply source to an estimated 35 million to 40 million people, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
The current rules governing the use of the river’s water are set to expire in October, and the seven states have been unable to reach a consensus on sharing it over the long term.
Last winter saw the worst snowpack on record for the Colorado River Basin, adding more stress on farmers, industry, wildlife and hydropower producers, as well as tens of millions of people who rely on the waterway, including in dozens of Native American tribes and in two Mexican states.
Years of overuse combined with drought and rising temperatures due to climate change have depleted the country’s two largest reservoirs, which are both fed by the Colorado. Lake Mead recently plummeted to its lowest level since it began filling nine decades ago, and Lake Powell did the same about a week later. Their combined storage is the lowest it has been in nearly seven decades.
If the water in Lake Powell falls just 33 more feet, the reservoir will no longer meet the water levels needed to generate hydroelectric power, meaning the water can’t move through the dam into the Colorado River.
Negotiators in Arizona thanked California and Nevada for their collaboration on sharing the cuts.
“For 2027 and 2028, the reductions that are now memorialized here will provide substantial stability for folks,” said Tom Buschatzke, Arizona Department of Water Resources director. “We’ll continue to negotiate and figure out how we’re going to operate over a longer-term period, which is what we all want.”
JB Hamby, California’s chief Colorado River negotiator, said the plan brings “some badly needed near-term certainty at a moment of extraordinary risk,” though he called it “a bridge, not a permanent solution.”
Officials in Nevada applauded their collaboration with Arizona and California and said a seven-state consensus remains their preferred path for the river.
In Southern Nevada, Kyle Roerink, senior adviser at the conservation group Great Basin Water Network, said efforts to build a new airport and shopping malls and some public land sales have not progressed, reflecting the dire hydrology inked in the federal documents. Further cuts could slow real estate development in metro Las Vegas, he said.
“When the Hoover Dam, a symbol of American fortitude and American power, drops and loses its shine, it can be scary,” Roerink said. “But it can also pose itself as a great opportunity for us to prepare for the next hundred years in a meaningful way.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/running-dry-the-fight-for-the-wests-dwindling-water-supply-60-minutes-archive/
Running Dry: The fight for the West’s dwindling water supply | 60 Minutes Archive
(13:17)