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

Degrees of warming: How a hotter, thirstier atmosphere wreaks havoc on water supplies in...

Colorado's Pitkin County is grappling with higher temperatures, declining streamflows and drier soils caused by climate change.
Big beaches are growing, and stabilizing, along the Colorado River in Cataract Canyon just above Lake Powell, like this one captured in early October. A recent study on the secondary economic impacts of a water-use-reduction program intended to deliver more water to Lake Powell found some jobs could be lost across western Colorado.

Study finds small number of jobs lost under demand-management program

A recent study of a Colorado demand-management program found that the benefits would be comparable to the negative secondary impacts.
Canoe at pond without water rights

State officials set sights on ponds without water rights

Colorado officials say ponds without water rights throughout the region are depleting the Colorado River system.

Voters overwhelmingly pass Colorado River District tax hike

Western Slope voters have overwhelmingly passed a proposal by the Colorado River Water Conservation District to raise property taxes across its 15-county region.

Record number of mussel-contaminated watercraft intercepted in Colorado amid COVID-19 boating surge

Colorado inspectors intercepted a record number of watercraft showing signs of invasive mussel infestations as reservoirs saw boating surge during the pandemic.
The Crystal River at the fish hatchery just south of Carbondale

Weak 2020 water year comes to a close

What started as a promising water year for Colorado with above-average snowpack ended Sept. 30 with the entire state in some level of drought.

Pitkin County groups concerned about marble quarry’s impacts on waterways

Local groups are keeping a close eye on a marble-mining company that violated the Clean Water Act with a Yule Creek diversion.
White River above Wolf Creek

White River dam and reservoir project headed for water court trial

The state of Colorado and the Rio Blanco Water Conservancy District are still at odds over a proposed White River dam and reservoir project.
City Park in Denver

Even in a pandemic, drought drives water use along the Front Range

Municipal water providers saw commercial water use plummet at the beginning of the pandemic but those savings were erased once the hot summer rolled in.
Roaring Fork headwaters

Pitkin County’s opposition to tax follows pattern of ‘misalignment’ with River District

Pitkin County’s opposition to a River District tax increase is just the latest in the historically antagonistic relationship between the two entities.