An unprecedented water shortage declaration was issued by United States authorities on Monday for water bodies like Lake Mead and Colorado River as droughts in western parts of the country worsen.

Water supplies from the Colorado River will be cut short for states like Nevada, Arizona and parts of Mexico after January 2022 after the first-time declaration was issued by the United States Bureau of Reclamation.

The impact of the first round of water cuts is likely to stay outside urban areas of the states. However, in case the water level in Lake Mead drops further than the limits set by the federal agencies, prominent cities like Tucson, Phoenix and Las Vegas may be also getting water cutbacks.

Tanya Trujillo, Assistant Interior Secretary said in a statement, “Like much of the West, and across our connected basins, the Colorado River is facing unprecedented and accelerating challenges”, according to reports from NBC News.

Southern Nevada Water Authority’s manager John Entsminger said while speaking about the water cuts, “We have a plan for that worst-case scenario right now. We’ve planned for the very bad. We have not planned for the absolute worst”, according to reports from NBC News.

Lake Mead was formed by building Hoover Dam in the 1930s. It is one of several man-made reservoirs that store water from the Colorado River, which supplies drinking water, irrigation for farms and hydropower to Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and parts of Mexico.

“We’re at a moment where we’re reckoning with how we continue to flourish with less water, and it’s very painful,” said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, according to reports from news agency Associated Press.