Colorado River drought study advances as participants call for fairness between cities, ranches
Can Colorado find a fair way to set aside as much as 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell to protect the state from future drought?
New law strengthens historical agricultural water uses
A new bill seeks to resolve the debate over how ranchers and other water users can maintain their historical water use when dry conditions trigger cutbacks.
Can carbon credits save Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta islands and protect California’s vital water hub?
An ambitious plan would use carbon credits as incentives to convert Delta islands to wetlands or rice to halt subsidence and potentially raise island elevations.
Report: Colorado’s farm water use exceeds national average, despite efforts to conserve
Farm water is critical to Colorado’s effort to balance a growing population with a water system stressed by drought and climate change.
California’s dream has turned into water nightmares
A new book looks at the Golden State’s history to understand its current water crisis.
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.
Video story: Cooling the Yampa river (full length)
As climate change brings warmer weather, Westerners are looking for ways to protect the region’s rivers and streams. In a special report for the Water Desk, Jerd Smith of Fresh Water News explains a strategy for safeguarding Colorado’s Yampa River.
Small farmers wait for California’s groundwater hammer to fall
Farmers, large and small, are beginning to grapple with what the state’s first major groundwater regulation means for them.
Northwest Colorado ranchers grapple with state requirements to measure, record water use
Irrigators in Northwest Colorado are facing a sea change in how they use their water, and many ranchers are greeting such a shift with reluctance and suspicion.