Luke Runyon
Luke Runyon is a journalist covering water and climate change in the Western U.S. He serves as co-director of The Water Desk, a journalism initiative at the University of Colorado’s Center for Environmental Journalism that focuses on Western water issues and the Colorado River Basin. In 2017 he launched the Colorado River Reporting Project at KUNC, the NPR station for Northern Colorado, where he hosted and reported the podcast, “Thirst Gap: Learning To Live With Less On The Colorado River.” He currently serves as president of the Society of Environmental Journalists, and is a former Ted Scripps fellow at the University of Colorado.
In “Water Bodies,” Western writers tap into intimate connections to their local waterways
In the arid West, water verbs are often bureaucratic. Rivers, streams and lakes are allocated, decreed, diverted, divided and used. Droplets are distributed to serve human needs. Scarcity drives the narrative in many of...
Cities in the West are booming in population. Will they need a lot more...
When researcher Brian Richter set out to take a close look at how big cities in the Western U.S. were adapting to water scarcity, he already knew the story’s basic contours.
Previous studies showed the...
Reporter’s Notebook: The making of “The Gen Z Water Dealmaker,” a podcast about the...
https://vimeo.com/948851769
The Colorado River is in the midst of one of the worst water crises in recorded history. Climate change and overuse are taking a significant toll. Leaders from seven U.S. states must compromise and...
Join us for a webinar on new Colorado River podcast
Reporter's notebook: the making of "The Gen Z Water Dealmaker," a podcast about Colorado River negotiations
What to watch on the Colorado River in 2024
After years of dry conditions throughout the West, 2023 gave the region’s water managers the greatest gift of all: a hefty snowpack. What will 2024 bring?