If the West continues to heat up and dry out, odds increase that the mighty Colorado River won't be able to deliver all the water that's been promised to millions who rely on it for their homes, farms and businesses, according to a new study. Less runoff—the snow and rain that fortify the 1,400-mile river—caused by human-induced climate change could mean that by 2050 the Colorado won't be able to provide all of its allocated water 60 percent to 90 percent of the time, according to two climate researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at San Diego.

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