Wet Winter Can't Slake West's Thirst

BOULDER CITY, Nev.—For the 30 million Americans who depend on the Colorado River for their water, this past winter's soaking rains and snows will only leave them thirsting for more.

Water managers warn that Lake Mead, the West's largest and most important reservoir, remains perilously near the level of 1,075 feet at which the U.S. Secretary of the Interior would likely declare a water shortage, for the first time in the nearly century-old history of the Colorado River system. Such a shortage would parch Nevada, Arizona and California with severe water-use restrictions. There alone, some 20 million people depend on Lake Mead's supplies.