Alex Hager

It would limit the amount that's released downstream toward the Grand Canyon and Lake Mead.

Arizona's top water official Tom Buschotsky says it's only possible because his state, California, and Nevada made cutbacks.

Bushatsky called on the upper basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico to do more to keep water in Powell.

He says this reshuffling of water would be a short-term fix.

For NPR News, I'm Alex Hager in Phoenix.

Arizona's top water negotiator Tom Buschotsky said states in the river's lower basin offered a number of good faith proposals, but virtually all of the ideas were rejected by their upstream counterparts.

Bushatsky says there's some hope for a deal before the current plan expires in October.

He says more involvement from governors of the Seven River states could help break the deadlock.

If they can't agree, the federal government would likely force deep cutbacks to water supply that could trigger lawsuits from the states.

For NPR News, I'm Alex Hager in Phoenix.

Those seven states, from Wyoming to California, seem unlikely to have a deal tomorrow.

Climate change is drying up the river, and states need to figure out how to rein in demand from cities and farms.

They say they're working hard behind the scenes to forge an agreement because the alternative is probably a big showdown in the Supreme Court.

The current rules for managing the river expire in October, and federal officials need to do a lot of environmental paperwork before then.

If they can't implement new rules in time, it could mean big shortages at the nation's largest reservoirs.

State leaders say they're now focused on a short-term plan to help avoid that.

For NPR News, I'm Alex Hager in Phoenix.

Just about every metric we use to figure out how much water will be in the Colorado River says the same thing.

It's shaping up to be a really dry year.

Every single part of the watershed has below average snow for this time of year.