Lead negotiators from the Colorado River's Upper Basin states expressed a dual sense of uncertainty and urgency on Tuesday, as a deadline to determine the fate of the entire system looms near.

"If you are in the Upper Basin states or probably anywhere across the West, you know it's not looking so good right now," said Becky Mitchell, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

Mitchell was addressing a meeting of the Upper Colorado River Commission, which also included federal Bureau of Reclamation representatives and the lead negotiators for the other Upper Basin states: Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico.

The commissioners convened to discuss basin-wide hydrology and share updates on longer-term Colorado River negotiations, which have been occurring for more than a year with Lower Basin counterparts: Arizona, Nevada and California.

The talks concern a long-anticipated update of the Colorado River’s operational guidelines, which are set to expire at the end of 2026. These 2007 interim rules govern conservation policies for the 1,450-mile river, which provides water to about 40 million people in the U.S. and Mexico.

With the Upper and Lower basins still far from reaching any collaborative arrangement, the Biden administration in late November tried to

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