Check out Wyoming’s 2025 accomplishments in the CRWUA 2025 Annual Report.
Here’s an excerpt:
Wyoming’s water year 2025 was hot and dry, especially during the irrigation season. Although snowpack was average, runoff was much less than average resulting in reduced streamflow, reservoir storage, and irrigation. This was partly due to low soil moisture conditions but also to the exceptionally dry summer. Some areas received no measurable precipitation for the entire summer. In most parts of the basin, the April-July rainfall was below the 15th percentile. Farmers and ranchers struggled, with Wyoming’s State Engineer’s Office regulating off at least 164,000 acres of irrigation—this regulation produces involuntary and uncompensated reductions. For comparison, 176,000 acres were regulated off in 2021, one of the driest years in the last century. During September, the Green River gage near La Barge, Wyoming recorded the lowest flows in its 50-year record.
Predictably, hot and dry conditions in Wyoming’s headwaters and elsewhere in the basin produced negative impacts to Lake Powell. 2025 Lake Powell inflows were about 4.7 million acre-feet while releases were 7.48 million acre-feet, resulting in a significant storage reduction. The reduced Lake Powell storage levels triggered planning to begin under the Drought Response Operations Agreement (DROA) and will continue through April 2026. Although DROA actions may only require retiming of monthly Lake Powell releases, they may also require releases from upstream Initial Units, such as Flaming Gorge. The magnitude of any 2026 DROA releases will depend on next winter’s snowpack and resulting streamflow, as well as possible reductions in Lake Powell releases under its current operating rules. Wyoming will remain fully involved in that process recognizing Flaming Gorge’s importance to Wyoming’s local economy as well as its purpose of providing a critical buffer for dry years.