claim: Last year, though, was a wet one on the Rio Grande, with a strong snowpack in the winter of 2016-17 that allowed the conservancy district to store water in upstream reservoirs.
evidence: Without storage reservoirs of their own, the Upper Basin states risked a call on the Colorado River during drought years : they would be forced to use less water in order to keep the river flowing to Lake Mead and California, the state with the most senior water rights.