Use: Dry Colorado River, Nevada and Arizona ration water

(ANSA) - WASHINGTON, AUG 16 - The Biden administration has announced that the water shortage in the Colorado River has exceeded for the first time a threshold that will require unprecedented water cuts in Arizona, Nevada and other Southwestern American states, as well as Mexico.

The Washington Post reports.

    The whole area is grappling with a never-before-seen drought, which is bringing America's largest reservoirs to mini-historians.

More than 20 years of well below average rainfall has left Colorado - the lifeblood of the western United States - at critical levels.

Despite years of warnings, states that depend on the river have failed to reduce their water use enough and today the federal government announced the imposition of drastic cuts.

   "To avoid a catastrophic collapse of the Colorado river system and a future of uncertainty, it is necessary to reduce the use of water in the basin," said Tanya Trujillo, Deputy Secretary for Water and Science at the Department of the Interior.

The administration has determined that, for example, Arizona will have to reduce water use by 21% and Nevad by 8%.

The Deputy Secretary of the Interior, Tommy Beaudreau, explained that there is still time to find an agreement and that it will not be imposed before an agreement is reached with the states involved.

(HANDLE).