Amid ‘a transparency desert,’ states look likely to blow past Colorado River deadline. What’s next?

Negotiators tasked with hammering out the future of the shrinking Colorado River — and the 40 million people who rely on it — are once again careening toward a deadline imposed by federal authorities, with little progress to show publicly.

Federal officials gave the seven states in the river basin a deadline that arrives Tuesday to present the concept for an agreement on how to share the river after 2026. Then they’d have until Feb. 14 to submit a detailed plan.