CBS Evening News 08.16.22

We want to begin tonight with severe water cuts that will impact tens of millions of Americans and puts a fine point on how dire the crisis is in America’s west. A mega drought is drying up the Colorado river and depleting the nation’s largest man-made reservoir, Lake Mead. Tonight, the federal government is forcing states to cut the amount of water they can draw from the Colorado river. And that means states will have to make critical decisions about how they use water. And here in Washington, President B signed what he hopes will help make an impact. A bill that includes three hundred and seventy-three billion dollars to fight climate change.

Here in California, more than ninety nine percent of the state is now battered by drought. And federal government is so concerned about this critical water source, it’s taking unprecedented actions. It’s a crisis on Colorado. The nation’s largest reservoirs are rapidly retreating. Iconic dams could stop producing power. Western states are being warned to drastically cut their water use. Today, the Interior Department a first ever tier two shortage on the river that provides water for forty million people in seven states. Arizona will lose twenty-one percent of its water, Nevada, eight percent. And the government is now threatening unprecedented cuts on all the states unless they start using less water. Climate change is making the west hotter and dryer. The worst drought in twelve hundred years and chronic overuse have drained Lake Mead and Lake Powell to about a quarter of capacity.

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