Colorado River

1. River in the southwestern United States, with its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado, that flows generally southwest through Colorado, Utah, and Arizona; forms the border between Nevada and Arizona and Arizona and California; and then flows through Mexico, emptying into the Gulf of California.

Source of fresh water for communities in Nevada, Arizona, and California.

The site of the Hoover Dam.

Over millions of years, the force of the river has carved the Grand Canyon in northwestern Arizona.

Example Sentences

Negotiators for seven Western states said they are making progress in ongoing talks over how to share the diminishing waters of the Colorado River, but they provided no specifics.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Negotiators for seven Western states are under mounting pressure to reach an agreement outlining how they plan to share the Colorado River’s dwindling water.

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The U.S. and Mexico share water from the Rio Grande and the Colorado River, an agreement which has been in effect since the mid-1940s.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Colorado River, which provides water across the Southwest, has lost about 20% of its flow in the last quarter-century, and its depleted reservoirs continue to decline.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The ongoing water shortage on the Colorado River, where reservoirs are approaching critically low levels, is expected to force additional reductions in water use in the Southwest in the coming years.

Read more on Los Angeles Times