Agriculture

California pistachio farmers are facing off against the U.S. Navy over water rights. The outcome could shape future legal fights as climate change upends the status quo.

Water Desk grantees Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley of the Gastropod podcast recently explored the importance of alfalfa to Western water issues and dairy products.

Water managers and experts from across Colorado are investigating the feasibility of a voluntary, temporary and compensated water-use-reduction program.

Despite opposition from agriculture interests, legislators moved forward a bill aimed at outlawing water investment speculation.

With a warming climate continuing to rob streams and rivers of their flows, talk in Colorado has resumed about how to limit growing water demand for residential use.

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.

Low snowpack and high temperatures have plagued water supplies in southwest Colorado, but high wheat prices bring hope to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.

Ifclimate change continues relatively unabated, consecutive years with snow drought conditions will become much more common, with impacts on cities, agriculture, forests, wildlife and winter sports.

Agencies in two counties are pursuing different approaches to address overdraft and meet requirements of California’s groundwater law.

The Maybell Irrigation District and The Nature Conservancy are rehabilitating and modernizing a key headgate and diversion on the Yampa River.