2026年9月1日，从空中俯瞰亚利桑那州大峡谷村的科罗拉多河。
The Colorado River is seen from the air in Grand Canyon Village, Arizona, on 1 September 2026.
摄影：Ian Maule/AFP/Getty Images 梅德湖水位降至近90年注水以来的最低点，鲍威尔湖也处于历史低位。当我们驾驶租来的平底船穿越内华达州的梅德湖时，气温高达42摄氏度（108华氏度）。
Lake Mead is at its lowest level since it was filled nearly 90 years ago, Lake Powell also at a historic low t was 42C (108F) degrees as we motored across Nevada’ s Lake Mead in our rented pontoon boat. Colby Pellegrino with the Southern Nevada Water Authority wanted to show us something we shouldn’t have been able to see.
南内华达水务局的Colby Pellegrino想向我们展示一些按理说我们不应该能看到的东西。她指向一座岩石小岛，那里有一根大金属管伸出水面。
She pointed toward a rock island where a large metal pipe was sticking out of the water. “That is the first intake that was built to bring municipal water into the valley in 1970,” Pellegrino said.
“那是1970年建成的第一个取水口，用于将市政用水引入山谷，”Pellegrino说。
It is part of the system that takes water from Lake Mead and brings it to Las Vegas.
它是从梅德湖取水并输送至拉斯维加斯系统的一部分。它原本设计为深埋水下。
It was designed to sit deep underwater. “It is no longer part of how we get water to Las Vegas because the lake has dropped too much for this piece of infrastructure to be operable,” Pellegrino told us.
“它不再是我们向拉斯维加斯供水系统的一部分，因为湖水下降太多，导致这项基础设施无法运作，”Pellegrino告诉我们。
Las Vegas’s bet on drier future Lake Mead is part of the Colorado River system and the largest reservoir in the United States.
拉斯维加斯为更干旱的未来押注 梅德湖是科罗拉多河系统的一部分，也是美国最大的水库。其水位现已降至近90年注水以来的最低点。蓄水量不足27%，周围悬崖上清晰地标记着水位的剧烈下降。2000年湖水最后一次注满时留下的矿物质沉积白线，即所谓的“浴缸圈”，如今高耸于当前水位175英尺（约53米）之上。
It is now at its lowest level since it was filled nearly 90 years ago. At less than 27% of its capacity, the cliffs surrounding the lake are marked by the dramatic decline. The white line of mineral deposits, or so-called “bathtub ring” left behind from when the lake was last full in 2000, now soars 175ft above the current water level. “If it’s not a crisis, it’s crisis-adjacent,” Pellegrino said of conditions on the Colorado River.
“如果这不算危机，那也是危机边缘了，”Pellegrino谈到科罗拉多河的状况时说。
Las Vegas gets more than 90% of its water supply from Lake Mead.
拉斯维加斯超过90%的供水来自梅德湖。该市已成为节水典范，对流入下水道的几乎每一滴水都进行处理和回收。
The city has become a model for water conservation, treating and recycling nearly every drop that goes down a drain. It also placed a big bet on its future.
它还为未来下了一笔大赌注。随着21世纪初湖泊水位开始下降，南内华达水务局斥资13亿美元建设了一个位于水库深近200英尺（约61米）处的新取水口，以及一个新的低水位泵站。当时，有人认为这是为一个永远不会到来的日子买下的过于昂贵的保险。而那个日子现在来了。“第三取水口”使得南内华达州能够在水位下降的情况下继续从水库取水。佩莱格里诺说：“我认为这说明有人对气候预测是准确的。”
As lake levels began falling in the early 2000s, the Southern Water Authority spent $1.3bn building a new intake nearly 200ft deeper in the reservoir along with a new low lake level pumping station. At the time, some thought it was overly expensive insurance for a day that would never come. That day is now here. The “third intake” is allowing southern Nevada to keep tapping the reservoir as water levels fall. “I think it says that somebody had the climate projections right,” said Pellegrino. A river under pressure The Colorado River begins in small streams in the Rocky Mountains fed mainly by melting snowpack.
一条承压的河流 科罗拉多河发源于落基山脉的小溪流，主要由融雪补给。它为七个州的4000多万人提供用水，灌溉超过500万英亩（约202万公顷）农田。河上的大型水电大坝，包括米德湖上的胡佛大坝和鲍威尔湖上的格伦峡谷大坝，为美国西南部各地社区发电。
It supplies water to more than 40 million people in seven states and irrigates more than 5m acres of farmland. Hydroelectric dams on the river including Hoover Dam on Lake Mead and Glen Canyon Dam on Lake Powell generate electricity for communities across the south-west. “That’s what makes this so scary,” said Kyle Roerink, a senior adviser with the Great Basin Water Network.
“大盆地水网”高级顾问凯尔·罗林克说：“这正是让人恐惧的地方。”
He says for decades the west has been using more water than the river can reliably provide.
他说，几十年来，美国西部用水量超过了科罗拉多河能可靠提供的水量。在始于2000年、持续26年的特大干旱期间，科罗拉多河流量减少了20%。
During a 26-year megadrought that began in 2000, the Colorado River has lost 20% of its flow. The two giant reservoirs that make the system work, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, are now at historic lows.
支撑该系统运行的两大水库——米德湖和鲍威尔湖——水位现已降至历史最低点。它们的总蓄水量跌至1960年代鲍威尔湖开始蓄水以来的最低水平。水库本应在干旱年份提供缓冲，但干旱年份接连不断。
Their combined storage has fallen to its lowest level since before Lake Powell began filling in the 1960s. The reservoirs are supposed to provide a cushion during the dry years, but the dry years keep coming. “Think of them as a bank account,” said Roerink.
“可以把这些水资源想象成银行账户里的存款，”罗林克说。“当看到浴缸里留下的水渍或海岸线被侵蚀的情况时，你就应该思考：我们的水资源是否即将耗尽、导致‘破产’？”2025年至2026年的冬季，落基山脉的积雪量创下了历史新低，导致山区储存的水量大幅减少，从而在夏季无法为河流提供足够的补给。据Climate Central报道，自2000年以来，极端高温已成为导致干旱的主要因素之一：高温使土壤和植物变得干燥，因此当雨水或降雪到来时，更多的水分会被地表吸收或蒸发掉，无法流入河流。结果就是，如今河流中的水量比本世纪初大幅减少。
“When you see the bathtub ring and exposed shorelines you need to think, are we going bankrupt?”The winter of 2025 to 2026 produced record low snowpack in the Rockies, leaving less water in the mountains to feed the river during the summer. Climate Central reports that since 2000, extreme heat has become a major driver of the drought. Hotter conditions dry out soils and plants, meaning that when rain and snow do arrive, more of that water is absorbed by the landscape or evaporates before it can reach streams and rivers. The result is a river that carries less water than it did at the beginning of the century.
科罗拉多河为菲尼克斯市提供了约40%的用水供应；在该市所在的都市区（人口超过500万），这一比例甚至接近100%。这些水资源是通过“中央亚利桑那输水工程”（Central Arizona Project）输送而来的——这是一条长达330英里的输水渠道，将水从沙漠地带输送到菲尼克斯及其他亚利桑那州的地区。
Phoenix water recycling The Colorado River provides Phoenix with about 40% of its water supply. In some parts of the metropolitan area, home to more than 5 million people, it’s nearly 100%.
“正是这些水资源，让我们能够在美国西部定居，也让我们能够在亚利桑那州的中部和南部安家落户，”菲尼克斯市的水资源管理顾问马克斯·威尔逊（Max Wilson）说道。
It is delivered through the Central Arizona Project, a 330-mile canal system that carries water across the desert to Phoenix and other communities in Arizona.
今年夏天，联邦政府大幅削减了向加利福尼亚州、内华达州和亚利桑那州提供的科罗拉多河水供应量。威尔逊表示，这意味着明年通过“中央亚利桑那输水工程”输送的水量将减少约50%。
“This is the water that has enabled us to be able to settle the western United States and be able to settle here in central and southern Arizona,” said Max Wilson, the water resources management adviser for the City of Phoenix. This summer the federal government imposed significant cuts to the supply of Colorado River water for California Nevada and Arizona.
菲尼克斯正在投入数十亿美元，以确保自己在未来可能完全无法从科罗拉多河获取水资源的情况下仍能维持供水。在该市北部的一个建筑工地上，工人们正在建造一座先进的净水设施——该设施能够将家庭和商业用水净化至符合饮用水标准。该净化过程采用了反渗透技术和紫外线处理方法。预计这座净水厂明年投入运行后，每天可生产近700万加仑的再生水。菲尼克斯计划建造三座这样的净水厂，作为减少对科罗拉多河依赖的总体措施的一部分。
Wilson says that means about 50% less water will flow through the Central Arizona Project canal next year. Phoenix is spending billions of dollars to make sure it can keep its taps from running dry in a future where it may not get any water at all from the Colorado. At a construction site on the city’s northern edge, workers are building an advanced water purification facility that will take water already used in homes and businesses and clean it to drinking water standards. The process uses reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light. When the plant opens next year, it is expected to produce nearly 7 million gallons of recycled water per day.
“这只是我们为应对科罗拉多河水资源短缺问题而采取的一系列措施之一；不过这一措施非常重要，因为它具有很高的可靠性。”威尔逊说道。
Phoenix plans to build three of these facilities as part of a broader effort to reduce its dependence on the Colorado River.
可能的最高法院诉讼：七个依赖科罗拉多河水资源的州多年来一直在试图就如何减少用水量进行谈判，但谈判未能达成一致。如今，联邦政府已正式制定了新计划，要求位于河流下游的亚利桑那州、内华达州和加利福尼亚州从2027年开始大幅减少用水量。这三州每年需减少约125万英亩-英尺（acre-feet）的用水量，未来还有可能进一步削减用水量。
“It’s one piece of the pie as we’re trying to figure out how to live with less Colorado River water. But it’s an important piece of the pie because it’s so reliable,” said Wilson. Possible supreme court fight The seven states that rely on the Colorado River have spent years trying to negotiate how they would use less water. Those talks failed and the federal government has now finalized a plan requiring the three lower basin states of Arizona, Nevada, and California to make major reductions beginning in 2027.
由于亚利桑那州在该河流中的用水权处于较低优先级，因此预计它将承担最大的减水量负担。而位于河流上游的科罗拉多州、犹他州和新墨西哥州则不受这一计划的强制约束，这进一步加剧了各用水州之间的紧张关系。
Together, they will reduce their use by about 1.25m acre-feet a year, with the possibility of substantially deeper reductions later. Arizona, which has the most junior water rights on the river, is expected to absorb the largest The upper basin states, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico do not face mandatory cuts under the initial plan, which has further inflamed tensions among the river users.
内华达州已起诉联邦政府，亚利桑那州也威胁要采取法律行动；加利福尼亚州则认为长期解决方案必须涉及所有七个州共同参与。这场争端最终可能会上诉至最高法院。虽然律师们仍在争论谁该承担减少用水的责任，但西南地区的城市们早已开始投入巨额资金来应对水资源短缺的问题。“我们能够度过这场危机，但代价将会非常高昂，”罗林克说道。
Nevada is suing the federal government Arizona is threatening to do so, and California has argued that the long-term solution must involve all seven states. The dispute could eventually reach the supreme court. While the lawyers argue over who has to give up water, cities in the south-west are already spending billions to live with less of it. “We are going to be able to weather the storm but it’s going to be very expensive,” said Roerink.
Climate Central 是一个由科学家和传播专家组成的独立组织，他们致力于研究气候变化的相关事实，并向公众传达这些信息，探讨气候变化对人们生活的影响。
Climate Central is an independent group of scientists and communicators who research and report the facts about our changing climate and how it affects people’s lives