Q&A: former top Interior Department officials assess agency under Trump
The Water Desk spoke with Rebecca Watson and John Leshy, who visited the University of Colorado Boulder campus recently for an armchair debate hosted by the Getches-Wilkinson Center.
Video story: The value of water (full length)
With population growth around Denver prompting fierce competition for water, investors want to import a new supply from the San Luis Valley, but many farmers and ranchers who depend on that water are opposed to the plan.
Video story: California’s vanishing lake (full length)
Water conservation in California’s southern desert is causing an environmental disaster as the Salton Sea quickly shrinks.
Video story: When in drought, call the beavers
Beaver reintroduction and restoration can help with some of the West's most profound water problems, both in terms of quantity and quality. A trial program is underway at Caribou Ranch in Boulder County.
Video story: Cooling the Yampa river (full length)
As climate change brings warmer weather, Westerners are looking for ways to protect the region’s rivers and streams. In a special report for the Water Desk, Jerd Smith of Fresh Water News explains a strategy for safeguarding Colorado’s Yampa River.
Decades later, abandoned mines continue to haunt Colorado’s waterways
According to a 2017 study, there are over 23,000 abandoned mines across Colorado and 1,800 miles of streams that are impaired due to pollutants related to acid mine drainage.
Data viz: surveying Colorado River Basin maps
This collection of Colorado River Basin maps includes public domain images and other cartographic resources for depicting the watershed.
A dry subject: how scientists map drought conditions
Scientists have a variety of measures of drought, but some are starting to use the term "aridification" to describe the long-term drying of the Southwest.