Colorado River Basin Lost Trillions of Gallons of Groundwater Due to Severe Drought

A new study by researchers at Virginia Tech found that the Upper Colorado River Basin lost an estimated 4.6 trillion gallons of groundwater during a severe three-year drought from 2020 to 2022. This loss, enough to halfway fill Lake Powell, highlights that groundwater cannot be treated as an unlimited backup and puts increasing pressure on the river system amidst dry conditions, rising temperatures, and growing water demand.