Colorado River flows will keep shrinking as climate warms

Warming in the 21st century reduced Colorado River flows by at least 0.5 million acre-feet, about the amount of water used by 2 million people for one year, according to new research. Climate change models project increasing temperatures, but future precipitation projections have more uncertainty. A new report, the first to quantify the different effects of temperature and precipitation on recent Colorado River flow, shows as temperature keep increasing, Colorado River flows will keep declining.