Glen Canyon Dam faces its existential moment
PAGE, Ariz. – In the span of U.S. history certain years are turning points, milestones in the nation’s story. 1776. 1865. 1929. 1968. Circumstance...
Colorado River emergency actions leave root causes of crisis unaddressed
On April 17, the federal government ordered emergency measures to prevent water levels at Lake Powell from falling so low that Glen Canyon Dam,...
Photos: Colorado River in Grand Junction, April 2026
This page in our free multimedia library features photos of low flows in the Colorado River in Grand Junction on April 22, 2026.
The Colorado...
The driest year revisited: Five takeaways from 2002 for today’s Colorado River
The Colorado River basin has been here before.
This year’s historic winter of low snow might feel novel. But recent years give some insight into...
Photos: Rio Grande near Las Cruces, New Mexico, March 2026
This page in our free multimedia library features drone-captured photos of the Rio Grande, near Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The Rio Grande begins in the San...
Photos: Low snowpack in southwest Colorado, March 2026
This page in our free multimedia library features photos of the record-low snowpack in southwest Colorado along U.S. 550, between Durango and Ouray.
Like...
As the West’s scant snowpack melts, Coloradans brace for a lean water year
Call it the winter that wasn’t.
Throughout Colorado a record-warm and dry winter has come to a close. Attention now pivots to spring and the...
Upper Basin states test methods to fill Powell pool
States say automatically turning to agriculture isn’t always reliable
A record warm winter could send Lake Powell to a historic low. Flaming Gorge...
A cream-colored band lines the orange sandstone walls that rise above the blue-green waters of Lake Powell. The so-called “bathtub rings,” these chalky layers...
Aspen activist wants ‘rights of nature’ for the Roaring Fork River
Movement reimagines humans’ relationship to local waterways