The article discusses the need for voluntary cut backs and agreements by states to water usage and that cut will need to be mandated by the federal government is an agreement can’t be made.

The Bureau of Reclamation, an office within the Interior Department that manages the river system, has sought to offset that water loss by getting states to reduce their consumption. In 2003, it pushed California, which had been exceeding its annual allotment, the largest in the basin, to abide by that limit. In 2007, and again in 2019, the department negotiated still deeper reductions among the states.

It wasn’t enough. Last summer, the water level in Lake Mead sank to 1,040 feet above sea level, its lowest ever.

If the water level falls below 950 feet, the Hoover Dam will no longer able to generate hydroelectric power. At 895 feet, no water would be able to pass the dam at all — a condition called “deadpool.”

In June, the commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, Camille C. Touton, gave the states 60 days to come up with a plan to reduce their use of Colorado River water by two to four million acre-feet — about 20 to 40 percent of the river’s entire flow.

Ms. Touton stressed that she preferred that the states develop a solution. But if they did not, she said, the bureau would act.

“It is in our authorities to act unilaterally to protect the system,” Ms. Touton told lawmakers. “And we will protect the system.”

The 60-day deadline came and went. The states produced no plan for the cuts the bureau demanded. And the bureau didn’t present a plan of its own.