Snow piled up in the mountains across the U.S. West last winter, leaving enough to thrill skiers into the summer, swelling rivers and streams when it melted, and largely making wildfire restrictions unnecessary. But the wet weather can be misleading.

A dispute between two major California water agencies is threatening to derail a hard-won agreement designed to protect a river that serves 40 million people in the U.S. West.

Seven states that rely on a major waterway in the U.S. West have finished a years-long effort to create a plan to protect the Colorado River amid a prolonged drought, the federal government declared March 19.

Arizona says it's one step closer to figuring out how to divvy up water cuts as the supply from the Colorado River becomes more limited.