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

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...

Colorado eyes foreclosure against troubled Pueblo water company with $1.4 million in delinquencies

An Arkansas Valley watercompany has left the State of Colorado on the hook for nearly $1.4 million and may face a rare foreclosure proceeding by the Colorado Water Conservation Board as a result.
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.

Praying for rain

The Zuni tribe's homeland is one of the most parched sections of the country. The tribe has already declared three drought emergencies in the last 15 years. Will it survive the next one?

Photos: University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research

This page contains photos from the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research in the University of Arizona’s College of Science. The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research is a global hub of dendrochronology: the...

Denver investment fund raising $5M for water tech startups

The Denver-based Colorado River Basin Fund is raising $5 million to help promising new water technology companies bring their wares to market.
Dry agriculture photo

Dust beneath snow: As Colorado reservoirs drop, farmers fear the worst

Reservoirs in the South Platte Basin are full from spring snows, but the rest of the state's storage pools are dangerously low, and farmers are struggling.

Photos: North Lake Powell, October 2022

This page features aerial photos of the northern end of Lake Powell in Utah. Lake Powell is the second-largest reservoir in the nation by capacity and began to fill with...
The Colorado River flows towards Horsethief Canyon photo

Special Report: As Lake Powell hits record lows, is filling a new drought pool...

The drought pool would be filled voluntarily, largely by farmers and ranchers, who would be paid to temporarily dry up their fields.

Concerns rise over Grizzly Creek Fire’s impact on Colorado River’s endangered fish downstream

By Heather Sackett The Grizzly Creek Fire in Glenwood Canyon has many people praying for rain. But the very thing that could douse the blaze, which has burned 32,000 acres as...