The Colorado River is a critical water source for millions of people in both cities and farms across seven states and Mexico. But extremely dire temperatures in the last decades are now set to force some states to cut their use of the river for water access. Today, POLITICO’s Annie Snider explains the extreme conditions brought to the river by climate change, and the federal government’s extreme measures to protect it. Kelsey Tamborrino covers Energy for POLITICO.Annie Snider covers water issues for POLITICO. Carlos Prieto is a POLITICO podcast producer.Jenny Ament is the senior producer of POLITICO’s audio department.Irene Noguchi is the executive producer of POLITICO’s audio department. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices