Aridification

Lake Powell faces demands from stakeholders with different water needs as runoff is forecast to decline due to warmer, drier conditions.

Southwestern U.S. cities have embraced innovative strategies for conserving and sourcing water in a changing climate.

Scientists have a variety of measures of drought, but some are starting to use the term "aridification" to describe the long-term drying of the Southwest.

By Stephen R. Miller, Food and Water Reporting Project Photography by Bill Hatcher You could almost visit Arizona without noticing it was a farming state. If you flew into Phoenix in an aisle seat,...

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 Southwest faces rapid growth and unrelenting drought, the Colorado River is in crisis, with too many demands on its diminishing flow. Now those who depend on the river must confront the hard reality that their supply of Colorado water may be cut off.

The snowpack that 40 million people rely on for water was supposed to provide a bounty this year. Instead, much of it melted away fast and early — part of a long-term trend associated with climate change.

Cities in New Mexico and Colorado are juggling water scarcity concerns over the Rio Grande.

With the Southwest locked in a 19-year drought and climate change making the region increasingly drier, water managers and users along the Colorado River are facing a troubling question: Are we in a new, more arid era when there will never be enough water?

In the rural towns around Visalia, drought is a perpetual plight and wells are going dry.