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The country's two largest reservoirs of water are at historic lows

NPR | By Mia Venkat,

Sophia Paliza-Carre, Ailsa Chang, Patrick Jarenwattananon

Published August 19, 2026 at 3:14 PM CDT

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University, about new record low water levels in two major reservoirs.

Mia Venkat

Sophia Paliza-Carre

Ailsa Chang

Ailsa Chang is an award-winning journalist and a host of NPR’s newsmagazine All Things Considered, as well as NPR’s daily news podcast Consider This.

Patrick Jarenwattananon

Host of NPR Music's A Blog Supreme