U.S. West faces reckoning over water but avoids cuts for now

Carson City, Nev. • The white rings that wrap around two massive lakes in the U.S. West are a stark reminder of how water levels are dropping and a warning that the 40 million people who rely on the Colorado River face a much drier future.Amid prolonged drought and climate change in a region that's only getting thirstier, when that reckoning will arrive — and how much time remains to prepare for it — is still a guess.The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is expected to release projecti