A buoy rests on the ground at a closed boat ramp on Lake Mead at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area near Boulder City, Nevada, on Aug. 13, 2021. To help stave off another round of mandatory cutbacks, water leaders for Arizona, Nevada and California are preparing to sign an agreement Dec. 15, that would voluntarily reduce water to the lower Colorado River basin states by 500,000 acre-feet for both 2022 and 2023. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)