About Southwest Water Crisis

A map of the places in the American Southwest where the water has already stopped, with the date it happened and the reports that prove it.

A register of the communities in the American Southwest that have lost their water supply, kept as dated, cited events on a map.

What this is

Most news about water in the Southwest is about the lakes: how far Lake Mead has dropped, how little Lake Powell holds. Our sister site tells that story every day. This site is about the other end of the pipe. When a water company stops delivering, when a town's wells run dry, when a city counts the days of clean water it has left, or when a court admits a community was never hooked up in the first place, that is a real event with a date and a name. We collect those events, one card per place, with the reports that prove each one.

Much of the reporting on water in the Southwest is about reservoirs: how far Lake Mead has fallen, how much Lake Powell holds. That story is told, daily, by our sister site. This site is about the other end of the pipe. When a supplier stops delivering, when a town's wells fail, when a city counts the days of clean water it has left, or when a court confirms that a community was never connected at all, that is a dated event with a name on it. We collect those events, one card per place, with the sources that document each one.

What counts as an affected community

A place goes on the map only when all of these are true:A community is listed when all of the following hold:

It is a real, named place (a city, town, neighbourhood, tribal community or the district that pipes water to homes) in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Utah or Wyoming: the seven states on the Colorado River, plus Texas for the Rio Grande.It is a named city, town, census-designated place, unincorporated community, tribal community or domestic water district in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Utah or Wyoming: the seven Colorado River basin states, plus Texas for the Rio Grande.
Something specific happened to its water on a known date, of exactly one of these kinds:One dated event of exactly one kind happened to it:
- Cut off. A supplier stopped delivering the water the community depended on.
- Ran dry. The community's own wells, intake or reservoir failed.
- Restricted. An authority declared a water emergency with mandatory rationing or a counted supply of days.
- At risk. An official body has published when, or under what conditions, the community loses its supply.
- Excluded. Never connected to a piped supply, documented by a dated official finding.
It was the water people drink and wash with. A farm losing irrigation water does not count on its own.The water lost was household supply. A cut to a farm allocation alone does not qualify.
At least two separate news outlets or official bodies reported it, and one of them is an official body or a major newspaper. The same wire story printed by two papers counts once.At least two independent sources from different publishers say so, and at least one of them is an official body or a newspaper of record. A wire story carried by two outlets counts once.
We know how many people live there, from a cited figure with its year, never a guess.The population is a cited figure with its year, from the Census or the source itself, never an estimate.

The date on a card is the day something happened or was announced, never a forecast. If the reports only give the month, the card only gives the month. Water that is dirty but still flowing is a different crisis and is not listed. Places outside the eight states, and in Mexico, are not listed. The FAQ answers the questions people ask most about this rule.

The date on a card is the day something happened or was announced, never a projection. Where sources name only the month, the card shows only the month. Contamination without loss of supply is a different crisis and is not listed. Places outside the eight states, and Mexico, are not listed. The FAQ answers the questions this rule raises most often.

About the figures

Population is how many people lived in the place in the year cited, usually according to the U.S. Census. It is not how many people lost water: nobody publishes that number, so we do not make one up. The "people in affected communities" figure above the map just adds those populations together.

Supply cut appears only when an official body published the percentage. If nobody did, the line is simply not there.

Restored means a permanent fix was finished on the date shown, such as a pipe to another system or a new well. The original event stays on the card.

Population is the population of the place in the year cited, usually from the U.S. Census. It is not a count of people who lost service: the sources do not support such a count, so we do not invent one. The "people in affected communities" figure at the top of the map is the sum of those populations.

Supply cut appears only where an authority published the percentage; otherwise the row is absent rather than guessed.

Restored means a permanent fix was completed on the date shown, such as a connection to another system or a new well. The original event stays on the record.

Our sister site

Colorado River Monitor watches the Colorado River's reservoirs with the government's daily readings. The two sites are run together and look alike: the river monitor is the why, this site is the who. More about the river monitor and where to start there.

Colorado River Monitor follows the Colorado River's reservoirs with daily Bureau of Reclamation readings. The two sites are run together and share a design; the river monitor is the why, this site is the who. More about the river monitor and where to start there.

Photographs

Place photographs come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences and are stored with this site rather than loaded from Commons. Credits:

Palmer Lake, Colorado: Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 4.0.
Estancia, New Mexico: Asaavedra32, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Apple Valley, Utah: Paul Harrison, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Walsenburg, Colorado: Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 4.0.
Hildale, Utah: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Las Vegas, New Mexico: Asaavedra32, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Navajo Nation, Arizona: Gmbgall, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Zapata, Texas: Billy Hathorn, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Page, Arizona: brewbooks, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Mendocino, California: Jef Poskanzer, CC BY 2.0.
Empire, Colorado: Xnatedawgx, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Rawlins, Wyoming: Vasiliymeshko, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sinclair, Wyoming: Tedder, CC BY 4.0.
Kettleman City, California: Ken Lund, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Fort Bragg, California: Robert Campbell, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Scofield, Utah: An Errant Knight, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Coalinga, California: Missvain, CC BY 4.0.
Echo, Utah: Patrick Cain, CC BY 2.0.
Healdsburg, California: Clay Gilliland, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Fairmead, California: David Prasad, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Earlimart, California: FredBren, Public domain.
Paonia, Colorado: Steve Huntley, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Stratford, California: LeoBC, Public domain.
Monson, California: kallahar, CC BY 3.0.
Vaughn, New Mexico: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0.
Lake of the Woods, California: George Garrigues, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Magdalena, New Mexico: jclarson, CC BY 2.0.
Robert Lee, Texas: Jstuby, Public domain.
Beulah Valley, Colorado: Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 4.0.

Map tiles are from OpenFreeMap, built on OpenMapTiles and OpenStreetMap data.

Independence

This site is not connected to any government agency, water company, tribe or any of the organisations it cites. Putting a place on the map says nothing about who is to blame; the reports speak for themselves.

This site is not affiliated with any government agency, utility, tribe or the organisations it cites. Listing a community is not a claim about who is responsible; the cited sources speak for themselves.