5:14 The Colorado River provides water to 40 million people around the West, including New Mexico, but the historic drought gripping our region has prompted a 20 percent drop in flows in the river. Reservoirs are drying, with Lake Mead at its lowest levels since it was filled in the 1930s. As scientists incorporate these changes into future projections, an article in Science magazine urges them to plan for even greater declines in the river. Co-author John Fleck says there are important lessons to learn from a hydrologist who studied the river a century ago. Fleck is director of the Water Resources Program at the University of New Mexico. His co-author is Brad Udall, senior water and climaate research scientist in the Colorado Water Center at Colorado State University.