Lake Mead could again approach these critically low levels over the next several months and years, according to the Bureau. This would depend on both the climate conditions as well as the response to those conditions, Dave White, director of the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation at Arizona State University, told ABC News.

"This is a multi-decade-old drought, and then on top of that multi-decade-old drought are the impacts of climate change, which predominantly translate into higher temperatures, more variable precipitation, and drier soils and higher [water] demand," White said.

Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, said the reductions being discussed push right up against what municipal providers can absorb. “It’s not such a deep cut that it would create a lot of disruption for municipal water providers, but it’s right at that edge,” said Porter.

Porter added that under the federal concept, Arizona water users could be required to give up a significant share of their water without being compensated. “Approximately just a little bit less than half of the amount of water that would run in the Central Arizona Project Canal in a non-shortage year,” she said.

“The era of relying on the Colorado River as a reliable, predictable source of surplus is effectively over. We are currently witnessing a transition where the priority must shift from expansion to survival, forcing a radical re-evaluation of municipal and agricultural water rights that have stood for over a century,” notes Sarah Porter, Director of the Kyl Center for  Water Policy at Arizona State University.

"Data centers are the fastest-growing industry in the world," Kelly Barr with Arizona State University's Global Futures Laboratory told the board in April. "This is really driven by our increased appetite for both artificial intelligence and Cloud services.

"By the end of 2026, global data center usage will top 1,050 terawatt hours," or as much energy use as the fifth-largest country in the world, Barr said. The question of whether a data center is good or bad depends on the point of view.

Approximately 40 million people across the West depend on the Colorado River for water daily, with many taking it for granted. But the region could soon face drastic measures as the river keeps shrinking.

“The causes of those declining reservoir levels are multiple,” said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. “It’s not one thing, but certainly this year we didn’t get any help from Mother Nature.”

"Arizona is not running out of water. We are running out of cheap water. This means higher water rates and more difficult tradeoffs. Anyone claiming we can have unlimited growth, inexpensive housing, low food prices, cheap energy, abundant industry and secure water supplies without sacrificing anything is wrong." Rhett Larson, Richard Morrison Professor of Water Law at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and a Senior Research Fellow with the Kyl Center for Water Policy, writes in the Arizona Republic.

New research from Arizona State University, published in the Journal of Agromedicine and WIREs Water, offers a clearer picture of how heat and water access affect worker health, and where practical solutions can make a difference.

The work, supported by Arizona Water for All, a pillar of the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, reflects ASU’s commitment to supporting Arizona’s communities and industries through research-driven solutions. 

“Farmworkers are essential to our food system,” said Fiorella Carlos Chavez, assistant professor in community health at ASU’s Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation. “Our research helps us better understand their experiences so we can support safer, more sustainable working conditions.”

“The main thing that Arizona gets out of this is that California has apparently agreed to share in some of the shortages,” said Kathryn Sorensen, the director of research at ASU’s Morrison Center for Public Policy. “That helps backfill CAP.”

Another problem is that removing the ICS pool from reservoir accounting would leave a 3.2-million-acre-foot hole in Lake Mead that would need to be filled. 

“It’s hard to get there because there isn’t a way to make ICS operationally neutral unless you impose the shortages that would occur if the ICS weren’t there,” said Kathryn Sorensen, director of research and professor of practice at the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. “I don’t know how else you can do it. You have to pay the piper.”