FILE - Lake Mead is seen, June 6, 2023, from Bolder City, Nev. Under a proposal released Wednesday, March 6, 2024, by Arizona, California and Nevada, the water level at Lake Mead — one of the two largest of the Colorado River reservoirs — would no longer determine the extent of water cuts. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
JB Hamby, chairman of the Colorado River Board of California, speaks at the Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas, Dec. 14, 2023. The seven U.S. states that draw waterfrom the Colorado Riverbasin are suggesting new ways to determine how the increasingly scarce resource is divvied up when the river can't provide what it historically promised. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
FILE - The Colorado River cuts through Black Canyon, June 6, 2023, near White Hills, Ariz. The seven U.S. states that draw water from the Colorado River basin are suggesting new ways to determine how the increasingly scarce resource is divvied up when the river can't provide what it historically promised. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
Becky Mitchell, Colorado's representative to the Upper Colorado River Commission, far right, speaks on a panel with representatives from the Lower Basin states during the Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas, Dec. 14, 2023. The seven U.S. states that draw water from the Colorado River basin are suggesting new ways to determine how the increasingly scarce resource is divvied up when the river can't provide what it historically promised. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
John Entsminger, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, speaks at the Colorado River Water Users Association conference in Las Vegas, Dec. 14, 2023. The seven U.S. states that draw water from the Colorado River basin are suggesting new ways to determine how the increasingly scarce resource is divvied up when the river can't provide what it historically promised. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
FILE - Bathtub rings show how low Lake Powell levels have declines, June 8, 2022, in Page, Ariz. The Upper Basin states of Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah submitted a proposal Tuesday, March 5, 2024, to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. It includes addressing water shortages based on the capacity of Lake Mead and Lake Powell upstream, instead of the more expansive reservoir system suggested by the Upper Basin. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson, File)