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

Western Colorado water purchases stir up worries about the future of farming

Part of a series by Aspen Journalism, KUNC, KJZZ and The Nevada Independent exploring how investors are banking on the West’s water scarcity.

Colorado officials crack down on ponds in Arkansas River basin

State engineers in the Arkansas River basin are beginning to crack down on more than 10,000 ponds without legal water rights, which they say are harming senior rights holders.
Cow Creek photo

Ouray County asks state water board to delay filing aimed at instream flow protection

Ouray County is asking the state water board to delay a court filing designed to protect streamflows and resolve issues in a related case.

Recreation groups ask for more inclusion in state Water Plan

Colorado’s river recreation community is asking for more recognition in the update to the state’s Water Plan.

Degrees of warming: Rising temperatures, shorter winters and a declining snowpack are impacting Aspen’s...

Pitkin County is warming, the number of frost-free days is increasing and snowpack is declining—all of which have myriad impacts on life in the Aspen area.
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.
Senator Beck Basin photo

New dust-on-snow monitoring technology coming to Steamboat lab, expanding a growing snowpack data network

Technology to study the impact of dust on downwind mountain ecosystems in Colorado and Utah will likely be installed in the Rockies this fall.
The main boat ramp at Wahweap Marina at Lake Powell photo

Lake Powell to dip below target elevation

Despite emergency releases from upper basin reservoirs to prop up Lake Powell, levels are still projected to dip below a critical threshold.

New law strengthens historical agricultural water uses

A new bill seeks to resolve the debate over how ranchers and other water users can maintain their historical water use when dry conditions trigger cutbacks.

Program expanding to map Colorado mountain snowpack

Front Range water providers hope to expand a program that uses a new technology they say will revolutionize water management in Colorado.