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

Greeley No. 2 Canal photo

Special Report: Climate change is sapping Colorado’s water supplies. Can its hallmark water law...

Is prior appropriation up to the task of divvying up the state’s water in an era of increasingly frequent and severe drought conditions?

Degrees of warming: How a hotter, thirstier atmosphere wreaks havoc on water supplies in...

Colorado's Pitkin County is grappling with higher temperatures, declining streamflows and drier soils caused by climate change.

Harvesting water in arid lands – Water Buffs Podcast ep. 11 – Brad Lancaster

Brad Lancaster, author and expert on water harvesting, explains how to make the most of rainfall and greywater to stretch local supplies.

Water and colonialism in New Mexico – Water Buffs Podcast ep. 10 – Julia Bernal

Julia Bernal, director of the Pueblo Action Alliance, talks to Water Desk Director Mitch Tobin about the legacy of colonialism in New Mexico and its impact on water issues.

As the Salton Sea shrinks, it leaves behind a toxic reminder of the cost...

Scientists fear that eventually the toxic residue of more than a century of agricultural runoff will be blown into the air — and into the lungs of residents.

Photos: San Juan River aerials, May 2021

This page features aerial photos of the San Juan River, a key tributary of the Colorado River that drains the Four Corners region and meets Lake Powell in southern...

Thirsty future for American West, as “megadrought” grips some of the fastest-growing U.S. cities

By Alexandra Tempus, Fair Warning In 2002, Utah was reeling from four years of dry conditions that turned the state “into a parched tinderbox,’’ as the Associated Press reported at...
The Colorado River, near Radium, Colorado. Photo by Mitch Tobin

Videos and photos: Colorado River drone flight, August 2019

This page features drone-captured footage and photos of the Colorado River, near Radium, Colorado. The imagery shows the Colorado River after it emerges from Gore Canyon, a popular whitewater rafting...

Photos: Lees Ferry and Navajo Bridge, Arizona, December 2019

This page features photos of the Colorado River and Paria River at Lees Ferry, as well as nearby Navajo Bridge and Marble Canyon in Northern Arizona. Lees Ferry marks the...

Water trouble in Rio Verde Foothills

An Arizona community may be ground zero for climate change in America. The Colorado River basin is in crisis — its reservoirs are running dry. Brad Hicks shows you...