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

Mobile-home residents stuck in a regulatory roundabout

It's unclear whether a new law could improve water quality in the Eagle River Village park, but legislators want to pressure owners to do more.

Photos and videos: Dolores River, September 2020

This page features drone-captured images and videos of the Dolores River in southwest Colorado. The Dolores River begins in the San Juan Mountains and travels about 230 miles to meet...

Photos: Navajo Generating Station, Arizona, December 2019

This page features photos of Navajo Generating Station, a large coal-fired power plant near Page, Arizona that was decommissioned in 2019. The power plant was built, in part, to...

Desalination helps meet water shortfalls in parts of the world. Is it a viable...

State Sen. Kevin Priola traveled to Israel in 2022 and came away with an idea: If the arid country can produce drinking water by taking the salt out of...

Photos: Fraser River, Moffat Tunnel and Gross Reservoir

This page features photos of the Moffat Tunnel at the Winter Park Ski Resort, the Fraser River outside of Granby, Colorado, and Gross Reservoir in Boulder County. The Moffat Tunnel...

A Colorado River flows drop and tensions rise, water interests struggle to find solutions...

Experts warn that climate change has rendered old assumptions outdated about what the Colorado River can provide, leaving painful water cuts as the only way forward.
Ute Water Assistant Manager Greg Williams shows a map where the domestic water provider plans to build Buzzard Creek Reservoir and Owens Creek Reservoir. Cities, conservancy districts, energy companies and private citizens have conditional water rights to build 99 new reservoirs over 5,000 acre-feet on the Western Slope. Photo by William Woody

Colorado has big dreams to use more water from the Colorado River. But will...

The site where Ute Water plans to build Owens Creek Reservoir at 8,200 feet on the Grand Mesa was snow covered by mid-November. The Western Slope’s largest domestic water...

Q&A: Snow droughts imperil the American West’s water supply

A lack of snow impacts the West’s water resources, wildfire risk, recreational activities and ecosystem health.
Environmental release flows into the El Chausse restoration site photo

Water-starved Colorado River Delta gets another shot of life from the river’s flows

Despite water shortages along the drought-stressed Colorado River, experimental flows resumed in Mexico to revive trees and provide habitat.

Photos: Rio Grande near Albuquerque, June 2024

This page in our free multimedia library features aerial photos of the Rio Grande near Albuquerque, N.M. Albuquerque relies on pumped groundwater and surface water from the Colorado River Basin...