In defiance of gravity, water from the Animas River is piped 600 feet up the hillside from Santa Rita Park to Lake Nighthorse reservoir. The pumps are so powerful that they could suck the Animas River dry. Almost two years after the reservoir was filled in June 2011, local government officials have not allowed kayaking, bird watching or mountain biking on the 5,500-acre site.

With persistent drought conditions across Colorado and low reservoir levels in the southwest, water resource managers are looking at a potentially long and arid summer. Following a dry 2012, the warmest year on record, reservoir levels were already on the low side. Reservoir storage exactly one year ago sat at 104 percent of average, which helped the area get through late summer shortages.

The Colorado River spreads over 1,400 miles, from the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico. Thirty million people, as well as 4 million acres of farmland, and some of the planet's most majestic landscapes and ecosystems, depend on the Colorado River. According to the U.S.

Lake Powell won’t be looking its best for its 50th birthday this year. The key reservoir in the Colorado River Basin is almost 100 feet below full pool and recently dipped to below 50 percent capacity, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s operations update. Specifically, the reservoir level was 98.5 feet below full as of March 11, and at 49 percent of capacity.

Looking down on a Nevada valley from a rocky ledge near the edge of Lake Mead, it was hard to believe that the bustling town of St. Thomas had ever thrived here. A woman shielded her eyes from the October sun and asked our guide, "Is this it?" Eighty years ago, neighbors gossiped under cottonwood trees and children played baseball in the street.

This winter, our usually quiet Colorado valley -- so quiet that you can hear the wingbeats of the eagles and ravens that pass overhead -- has reverberated with the growls of trackhoes digging trenches across hillsides and irrigated pastures.

Last December, the Bureau of Reclamation released the final draft of a very detailed Colorado River Basin supply and demand study.