WATCH: Tipping Point: Colorado River Reckoning- A PBS News Special

Forty million people depend on the Colorado River for water, but that vital resource is in peril. The river’s storage system has shrunk to an estimated 41 percent capacity as of June 2024.

The river, which irrigates 4 million acres of some of the most productive agricultural land in the United States, may never fully recover due to climate change, according to scientists.

PBS News science correspondent Miles O’Brien hosted a live discussion on July 24, 2024 called “Tipping Point: Colorado River Reckoning,” that looks at some of these challenges and answered your questions.

Watch the conversation in the player above.

O’Brien was joined by several guests, including Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, Former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt and Heather Tanana, a member of the Navajo Nation, among others.