Utah’s Suicide Pact With the Fossil Fuel Industry
The state’s fixation on oil and gas development threatens the Colorado River watershed.
Thirsty future for American West, as “megadrought” grips some of the fastest-growing U.S. cities
By Alexandra Tempus, Fair Warning
In 2002, Utah was reeling from four years of dry conditions that turned the state “into a parched tinderbox,’’ as the Associated Press reported at...
Once a rich desert river, the Gila struggles to keep flowing
Population growth, agricultural withdrawals and climate change have badly diminished the river and threaten its future.
Western states buy time with a 7-year Colorado River drought plan, but face a...
The Drought Contingency Plan for the Colorado River is a historic agreement but it has some serious shortcomings.
Once ‘paradise,’ parched Colorado valley grapples with arsenic in water
Decades of climate change-driven drought, combined with the overpumping of aquifers, is making the valley desperately dry — and appears to be intensifying the levels of heavy metals in drinking water.
Questions simmer about Lake Powell’s future as drought, climate change point to a drier...
Lake Powell faces demands from stakeholders with different water needs as runoff is forecast to decline due to warmer, drier conditions.
A quiet revolution: Southwest cities learn to thrive amid drought
Southwestern U.S. cities have embraced innovative strategies for conserving and sourcing water in a changing climate.
A dry subject: how scientists map drought conditions
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.
Arizona’s water supplies are drying up. How will its farmers survive?
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,...
Water and colonialism in New Mexico – Water Buffs Podcast ep. 10 – Julia Bernal
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.