ms. mcsally: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. ms. mcsally: the colorado river is the lifeblood of the southwestern united states. the river provides drinking water to 40 million americans. irrigation to 5.5 million acres of farmland, and more than 4,000 mega watts of carbon free hig hydropower to communities across the west in seven states. unfortunately the last 19 years have been the colorado basin's driest on record. this long and intense drought has left the combined water stored behind lake powell and lake mead near critically low levels putting the water supply for some of the nation's largest cities in danger. the colorado river drought contingency plan otherwise known as the d.c. p. was negotiated between the seven colorado river basin states to respond to this prolonged drought. it is designed to protect lakes mead and powell from reaching critical levels, including the risk of reaching crisis levels where operational control of the colorado river system would b