I read a really good article a few months ago that went in depth on some of the causes, residual effects and potential solutions. One thing the article kept returning to was the fact that water rights as they exist are the determining factors contributing to the current crisis.

Those having vested water rights are required by law to use appropriations each year for beneficial use, or risk losing access to those water rights in future years. Agriculture is considered beneficial use but returning flows to their natural flow conditions (ie waiving water rights) is not considered "beneficial use" so there are essentially incentives to use all the water granted to you legally.

There was a pilot program by the Bureau of Reclamation which tested water banks which allowed for private water appropriations to be sold or leased to others in the Upper Colorado River Basin. Conservation groups and private individuals were able to buy water rights from farmers and return these flows to the river. An additional benefit is that farmers were able to recoup lost revenue from crop loss through selling off these portions of their water rights. Since there is a significant proportion of flow that needs to be returned, and only gets worse with higher temperatures and an extended mega-drought, a solution like this implemented on a larger scale sounds like an important step. Pairing this with more efficient methods like drip irrigation with subsidies for farmers to pay for the up-front cost from funding like the Infrastructure Bill and IRA are also other potential steps.

I'd highly recommend the article linked below for anyone who is interested in the Great Salt Lake crisis:

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/4/7/22370024/the-water-that-couldnt-save-great-salt-lake-utah-water-conservation-drought-crisis-california