The federal government will scale back the water supply for three Southwestern states to manage the growing crisis over the drying Colorado River, officials confirmed Friday.

Officials from the Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees the Colorado River basin — a key source of water for over 40 million people living in the West — said Friday that the federal government will cut more than 1.2 million acre-feet of water supply annually over the next two years. The cuts, which start in 2027, will affect Arizona, California and Nevada — states that contain some of the country’s fastest-growing communities.