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This is Fresh Air.

I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross.

This summer, officials of the US Interior Department gave seven states in the American

West and ultimatum either come up with a voluntary agreement to curtail their use of

water from the Colorado River or the federal government will impose mandatory restrictions.

Lake Mead, the reservoir created by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado, is now at just 25% of

its capacity.

Our guest, ProPublica Investigative Reporter Abram Lustgarten, says the water shortage facing

the 40 million people who rely on the Colorado is an emergency, but not a surprise.

For decades, it's been clear the states were draining more from the Colorado than it could

bear and population growth and climate change have accelerated the problem.

Lustgarten joined us on Fresh Air seven years ago to explain the causes of the water shortage

and the threaded poses.

We've asked him to come back for an update on the crisis and to look at what lies ahead.

Abram Lustgarten is an environmental reporter at ProPublica with a focus on climate change.

His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, scientific

American, wired salon and S. Quire among other publications.

He's the author of two books and his 2015 series on the causes of water scarcity in the

American West was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Well, Abram Lustgarten, welcome back to Fresh Air.

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