As Lake Powell dries up, the US turns to creative accounting for a short-term...
A new agreement calls for Western states to leave their drinking water in the reservoir — and act as if they didn't.
Photos: Rio Grande near Caballo Dam, New Mexico, March 2026
This page in our free multimedia library features drone-captured photos of the Rio Grande, near Caballo Dam in southern New Mexico.
The Rio Grande begins...
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...
Turf replacement bill gains ground
Colorado could soon have a program that would pay property owners to get rid of one of the largest water uses for Western Slope water providers: grass.
Two new Colorado River reservoirs are rising on the Front Range, are they the...
Two new water storage projects designed to capture the flows of the Colorado River may represent the end of an era on the river.
Corporate support for the river
For decades, water managers and environmentalists have worked to keep a critical stretch of the drought-stressed Colorado River healthy enough to support endangered fish....
Two pumped water storage projects move forward in Colorado
Two proposed pumped water storage projects that could expand Colorado’s ability to store renewable energy are moving forward.
Cutting back on irrigation
In a pilot project in Colorado, farmers are reducing irrigation on their hay fields and monitoring the results, to learn if they can send...
Southern Ute Tribe and climate change
The megadrought in the Southwest is impacting everyone including Native American tribes that have lived here for thousands of years. For The Water Desk,...
Glenwood Springs secures water right for whitewater parks
Glenwood Springs has secured a conditional water right for three whitewater parks on the Colorado River after a long fought court battle.