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

Budget-strapped Wyoming towns race for federal funds to fix aging water, sewer systems

Waking up to long-overdue system upgrades, dozens of towns that were awarded federal ARPA dollars may see them "clawed back" for lack of resources to complete paperwork.

Photos and videos: Rio Grande Headwaters, April 2021

This page features drone-captured and ground-based photos and videos of the Rio Grande near its headwaters in southern Colorado. The Rio Grande begins in the San Juan...
Big beaches are growing, and stabilizing, along the Colorado River in Cataract Canyon just above Lake Powell, like this one captured in early October. A recent study on the secondary economic impacts of a water-use-reduction program intended to deliver more water to Lake Powell found some jobs could be lost across western Colorado.

Study finds small number of jobs lost under demand-management program

A recent study of a Colorado demand-management program found that the benefits would be comparable to the negative secondary impacts.

Despite blizzard, Colorado’s critical mountain snowpack shrinks

Colorado remains mired in drought, with nearly half classified as being extremely or exceptionally dry, the most dangerous categories.

The Great Drenching

How did California get battered by a relentless barrage of devastating atmospheric river storms despite La Niña?
Old cottonwoods line the banks and trails of the historic Denver Highline Canal

Denver’s High Line Canal a study in using something old to solve new problem

Infrastructure built more than a century ago still endures, but some of Colorado’s old irrigation ditches have been repurposed to meet the moment. The High Line Canal—a 71-mile-long former irrigation conveyance turned greenway and stormwater filtration tool—winds its way through the Denver metro area as an artery of infrastructure boasting a story of adaptation.

Streamflow forecast down for Roaring Fork despite above-normal snowpack

Although snowpack in the mountains near Aspen is hovering above normal for this time of year, streamflows in the Roaring Fork River are predicted to be just 85% of normal for April.
Liza Mitchell, a natural resource planner and ecologist with Pitkin County, shows off the recent work on a restoration project at a fen on North Star Nature Preserve, on Aug. 26. This fiber mat is plugging an old ditch that drained water from the wetland to the Roaring Fork River.

Pitkin County launches project to restore ancient wetland at North Star Preserve near Aspen

A fen-restoration project aims to enhance the wetland’s ability to provide habitat, store and filter groundwater, and sequester carbon.

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.

Drone videos and photos: uranium tailings and Colorado River near Moab, Utah, December 2019

This page features drone footage and still imagery of the Colorado River around Moab, Utah. Near downtown Moab, a large uranium mill tailings pile is located close to the...