Colorado and six other states face deadline to develop Colorado River conservation plan

Seven western states have until the end of the day Monday to submit a plan that would conserve billions of gallons of Colorado River water by 2023. 

Commissioners in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, California, and Nevada face the monumental task of developing a plan that would conserve more than 700 billion gallons of water in Lake Powell, Lake Mead, and the Colorado River Basin. Water in those areas provide critical irrigation and drinking water to residents in all states. 

The group, called the Upper Division States, must submit a plan Monday to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that details how they would conserve the water by 15% in the next year. If the group does not, the Bureau would step in and impose their own cuts without input from the states. 

The region faces a huge drought that threatens farms, livestock, and water supplies. 

"The Colorado River is in crisis there's been a fundamental imbalance on the system we've know about for decades but it's really coming to a head," John Berggren, a water policy analyst for the non-profit Western Resource Alliances group, told CBS News Colorado in July. "We are seeing the two largest reservoirs Lake Powell and Lake Mead rapidly decline, potentially reaching record low levels where they can no longer function as dams on the system." 

In July, the group told the federal government they would work together to create a five-point plan including aggressive water management, incentives for conserving water from upper reservoirs into lower reservoirs, and reimplementing a compensation program for those who voluntarily agree to use less water.