Trailer: Thirst Gap

Thirst Gap: Learning to Live with Less on the Colorado River

The Colorado River is in trouble. Its biggest reservoirs are at record lows. Shortages are likely to get worse. Demands from cities and farms are outstripping supply across seven U.S. states, 30 Native American tribes and northern Mexico.

The river’s foundational, yet flawed, legal agreement -- the Colorado River Compact -- turned 100 years old in 2022. The anniversary was a somber one. Climate change is putting the compact’s most basic tenets to the ultimate test. The agreement’s fantastical promises, of an arid region flush with enough water to build massive cities and sprawling farms, have left the region’s key water source drained.

Climate change is warming parts of the basin faster than any other reach of the U.S. If the first 100 years of river management represent an attempt to ring every drop from the river for human use, the next 100 years will bring a heavy dose of reality -- that we’ve stretched the river too thin and need to rely on it less.

Who will be forced to give up the most? How do we decide who gets less? And how will the region adapt to a shrinking supply as the climate warms? This six-part in-depth audio series will attempt to answer those questions.