An initiative of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder

Home Stories Featured

Featured

Featured posts

Some of Arizona’s most valuable water could soon hit the market 

PARKER, Arizona – South of Headgate Rock Dam, beyond riverbanks lined with willow and mesquite, the broad floodplain of the Colorado River spreads across emerald fields and sun-bleached earth.  The...

Unanswered questions: New Mexico looks to fossil fuel byproduct to ease pressure on freshwater...

Mario Atencio’s family never received a notification that 1,100 barrels of produced water—a byproduct of oil and gas extraction—had spilled on their allotment in February 2019 near Counselor, New...

Searching for solutions: In New Mexico, researchers seek to make brackish water a viable...

Heading through eastern New Mexico, dairy cattle can be seen in farms beside the highway while flashing lights illuminate the wind farms at night. Large sprinklers irrigate the crop...

Does Arizona have enough water? Phoenix-area cities are spending big to make sure it...

Brett Fleck does not have an easy job. He manages water for a city in the desert. He has to keep taps flowing while facing a complicated equation: The...

Using less of the Colorado River takes a willing farmer and $45 million in...

Wyoming native Leslie Hagenstein lives on the ranch where she grew up and remembers her grandmother and father delivering milk in glass bottles from the family’s Mount Airy Dairy. The...

The Other Border Dispute Is Over an 80-Year-Old Water Treaty

With another hot summer looming, Mexico is behind on its water deliveries to the United States, leading to water cutbacks in South Texas. A little-known federal agency has hit a roadblock in its efforts to get Mexico to comply.

In Colorado, new scrutiny and possible fixes coming for drinking water in mobile home...

A new law gives the state authority to test water quality in mobile home parks and force owners to fix any issues. The testing program officially begins this summer, but state officials have gotten a head start at one community in Western Colorado that helped spur the legislation.

Meet The 28-Year-Old Californian Trying To Save The Colorado River

The Colorado River is in crisis — one of the worst in recorded history. For the past several months, the seven states that use Colorado River water have been trying to come up with a plan to keep the river from collapsing. California is the single largest user of Colorado River water, which means that any effort to save the river involves California making some serious cuts. 

10 visuals that show how climate change is transforming the West’s snow and water...

The latest National Climate Assessment warns of a shrinking snowpack and serious downstream consequences.
A clear Rocky Mountain stream creates riffles through cobblestone at the base of Mount Sopris

In dry years, Colorado’s Crystal River runs at a trickle — but why?

A historic drought driven by climate change and temperatures that creep ever higher are partly to blame, but the factors that lead to a dry river bed are many.