[from Scientific American website]  A rush to develop domestic oil, gas and uranium deposits along the Colorado River and its tributaries threatens its future

By Abrahm Lustgarten and ProPublica

The river is already so beleaguered by drought and climate change that one environmental study called it the nation's "most endangered" waterway. Researchers from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography warn the river's reservoirs could dry up in 13 years.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=how-the-wests-energy-boom-could-threaten-drinking-water