The clock is ticking on the shrinking Colorado River as Western states miss a key deadline

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Seven Western states say they’ve made progress in negotiations aimed at addressing the Colorado River’s chronic water shortages.

The states, however, failed to meet a federal deadline for an initial agreement. They are under pressure to agree on a plan for water cuts that can prevent reservoirs from reaching critically low levels.

Negotiators for seven Western states said they are making progress in ongoing negotiations over how to share the diminishing waters of the Colorado River, but they provided no specifics. A deadline set by the Trump administration came and went Tuesday without any region-wide agreement on water cutbacks.

The Trump administration gave the states’ negotiato