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

Feds: Colorado River’s Flaming Gorge Reservoir able only to deliver two more emergency water...

As drought and climate change sap the Colorado River, even the water in the Upper Basin’s high-elevation reservoirs isn’t enough to protect the larger system.

Photos: Antelope Point and Lake Powell, May 2021

This page features aerial and ground-based photos of Antelope Point and Lake Powell in northern Arizona. Lake Powell is the second-largest reservoir in the nation by capacity and began to...

Deadline passed

The seven states failed to meet a federal deadline of February 1st to agree on a plan to use less water from the Colorado River. Brad Hicks of the...
The confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers in the Grand Canyon, shown here in a September 2020 aerial photo from Ecoflight, represents an area where the humpback chub has rebounded in the last decade. That progress is now threatened by declining water levels in Lake Powell, which could lead to non-native smallmouth bass becoming established in the canyon. CREDIT: JANE PARGITER/ECOFLIGHT

Declining levels at Lake Powell increase risk to humpback chub downstream

Low levels and warming waters threaten to increase invasive species in the Colorado River.

Photos: Bullfrog Marina and Lake Powell, October 2022

This page features aerial and ground-based photos of Lake Powell's Bullfrog Marina in southern Utah. Created by Glen Canyon Dam, Lake Powell is the second-largest reservoir in the nation by...

Colorado River Econ 101

By Kurt Repanshek, National Parks Traveler From the high country in Rocky Mountain National Park a muddy flush of water rushes downstream, through western Colorado. It turns left, going south...

Lake Powell pipeline plans to tap water promised to the Utes. Why the tribe...

The Ute Indian Tribe is suing to get back its water and asserting that the misappropriation is one of a decades-long string of racially motivated schemes to deprive it of its rights and property.

Photos: Hite Marina and Lake Powell, October 2022

This page features aerial photos of Hite Marina, the Hite Crossing Bridge, and Lake Powell in southeast Utah. Lake Powell is the second-largest reservoir in the nation by capacity and...

Climate change reducing Colorado River runoff

By Kurt Repanshek, National Parks Traveler By mid-century, annual runoff into the Colorado River could be reduced by nearly a third as declining snowpack leads to greater evaporation of snowmelt,...
Glen Canyon Dam photo

Electric costs in Colorado set to surge as Lake Powell struggles to produce hydropower

A federal agency aims to offset rising costs linked to Lake Powell’s inability to produce as much hydropower due to drought.