As the Colorado River reaches crisis lows, communities turn to water reuse and other alternative water infrastructure to safeguard supply, strengthen resilience and secure a sustainable future in the West.
The Colorado River is a critical water resource for communities across seven U.S. states, more than 30 tribal nations, and parts of Mexico — but that lifeline is drying up. Unprecedented drought and record-low levels in the river’s largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, signal a future where water security is a top priority across the West.
As of early 2026, Lake Powell remains 162 feet below full pool, holding only about 26% of its total water capacity. Lake Mead remains roughly a third full and is projected by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation — a federal agency that manages water resources across the western United States — to hit new record lows within the next two years if conditions continue to deteriorate.
As water supplies shrink, drinking water becomes less dependable, farmers lose irrigation for crops, and fire crews lose a critical resource they cannot replace. If Powell’s water levels were to continue to drop, hydropower from the dam would begin to fail. If electricity generation were to stop entirely, the region would lose both a key source of electricity and the revenue required to maintain the dam. That reality is forcing cuts to river allocation and prompting municipalities to rethink water security strategies.
The urgency is undeniable: Current operating rules that govern how water in the reservoirs is managed expire in the fall of 2026, and basin states faced a deadline of February 14, 2026 to ratify Colorado River water allocation agreements or risk the federal government intervening, an outcome that no one can predict or control. The effect of these decisions will ripple across ecosystems, agriculture, hydropower and the lives of 40 million people.
One of the most promising ways to reduce strain on water basins is to invest in water infrastructure across the West, expanding systems that capture, move, and reuse water to strengthen the region’s water security. While water cuts can be managed in several ways, augmentation strategies like pipeline connections and water reuse infrastructure allow communities to capture previously unusable water and build long-term resilience. PCL is helping lead this charge by delivering water reuse facilities that increase resilience, expand supply and support communities as they adapt to a drier future.
Momentum for water reuse is building, with U.S. reuse investments forecasted to average $47.1 billion over the next decade, according to Bluefield Research. Water reuse facilities treat municipal and industrial wastewater for safe return to communities for non-potable uses such as irrigation and showers, reducing the strain on America's hardest-working river and supporting long-term water plans.
Yet the seven Colorado River basin states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming — are all at different stages of reuse facility adoption, some reusing the majority of their water supply, others virtually none. A recent analysis found that as of 2022, only 26% of municipal wastewater was reused across these states, and levels of reuse adoption vary significantly:
- Nevada: 85%
- Arizona: 52%
- California: 22%
- New Mexico: 18%
- Colorado: 3.6%
- Wyoming: 3.4%
- Utah: less than 1%
The range in adoption is largely due to fragmented state policies despite the ongoing drought. Aging infrastructure, rising costs and competing priorities continue to outpace the limited financial resources available for water reuse projects.
“There’s understandable frustration around Colorado River negotiations among the basin states,” says Donna Bloom-Crook, director of business development for PCL Construction. “Municipalities are leaning into water reuse as a leading solution and are ready to collaborate. The challenge isn’t the technology or the vision — it’s funding.”
For cities experiencing rapid population growth, such as Phoenix, reuse is no longer optional; it is essential. Meeting the demand requires expertise in areas where PCL Construction is already leading the charge. Initiatives such as the Drought Pipeline Program in Phoenix serve as tangible examples of innovation meeting urgency and set a precedent for other basin communities.
Arizona is experiencing its worst drought in over a century, even as its population grew by 12% between 2010 and 2020. Diversifying water supply strategies is a top priority for the City. In anticipation of cuts to Colorado River water allocations, the City of Phoenix developed a drought management plan to ensure uninterrupted water service for the 400,000 residents of Northern Phoenix.
That water conservation plan was enabled by a PCL-built 76-million-gallons-per-day booster pump station for the city. During the project, the PCL team overcame alignment challenges. Yaakov Welner, preconstruction manager at PCL Construction, explains that the City of Phoenix needed the project operational by 2022 to create a buffer before Colorado River cuts took effect.
“From the start, we worked closely with city leaders to understand their goals for resilience and regulatory compliance, ensuring the system could deliver long-term reliability,” Seth Richards, project manager at PCL Construction says. “On top of that, global supply chain disruptions required creative solutions to keep the project on schedule.”
A major challenge encountered during the project was the delayed delivery of pump cans due to pandemic-related disruptions — a potential 80-day delay. The client's top priority was meeting the schedule to maintain a reliable water supply. Working with the City of Phoenix, the team took immediate action and fabricated the pump cans locally. This decision allowed the team to mitigate the delays caused by the supply chain disruptions and keep the project on schedule.
Efforts like Phoenix’s drought pipeline play a vital role in strengthening water access and ensuring long-term reliability in communities that rely on increasingly limited Colorado River supplies.
Phoenix’s success reflects a broader trend — one that dominated discussions at the recent Colorado River Water Users Association (CRWUA) Conference. Industry leaders, policy makers and innovators shared strategies for securing the river’s future. PCL’s presence underscored the company’s leadership in advancing water reuse as a cornerstone of resilience.
With more than 1,700 attendees, the message was clear: There is no single solution to the Colorado River crisis. During the welcoming session, CRWUA President Gene Shawcroft showcased the importance of collaboration and the critical role of water reuse.
“Large-scale water recycling projects leverage partnerships to build new drought-proof water supplies that future generations can depend on,” Shawcroft said in a video produced for the event. “It will, of course, take much more to navigate the unprecedented challenges of climate change and aging infrastructure to find consensus amidst all this uncertainty to sustain the communities, farms and environment that all rely on this incredible, vast Colorado River system.”
A secure water future will require implementing a combination of approaches simultaneously: Reducing basin allocations, improving conservation and efficiency, changing landscapes and diversifying water sources. Water treatment facilities and pipelines already demonstrate how innovation and teamwork can reduce reliance on the river and effectively manage a new, drier reality in the West.