A record warm winter could send Lake Powell to a historic low. Flaming Gorge...
A cream-colored band lines the orange sandstone walls that rise above the blue-green waters of Lake Powell. The so-called “bathtub rings,” these chalky layers...
Less federal pressure, worsening drought, and more interstate tension loom over Colorado River talks
The Colorado River Basin is in crisis.
Climate change is reducing its flow and its biggest reservoirs are shrinking. The seven U.S. states that use...
As deal deadline approaches, Colorado River stewards debate a broad range of options
It’s crunch time for negotiators from seven western states trying to strike a deal before Feb. 14 on how to share the dwindling Colorado...
Utah has county-by-county water goals. Which ones are hitting them?
One size fits all. That’s great for hats in the Zion National Park gift shop but not for water conservation goals.
So at the start...
Trees keep a record of Colorado’s Crystal River. Researchers say that story could help...
Tree rings can tell a story. Wide bands signal a wet period, while narrow ones show a drought. Whole ecosystems can be encoded in...
At Phoenix’s far edge, a housing boom grasps for water
BUCKEYE, Ariz. – Beneath the exhausting Sonoran sun, an hour’s drive west of Phoenix, heavy machines are methodically scraping the desert bare.
Where mesquite and...
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...
Farmers use the majority of Colorado’s water. Shouldn’t they bear the burden of future...
You’ve heard the news: Farmers and ranchers use roughly 80% of the water in Colorado and much of the American West.
So doesn’t it make...
Colorado’s water users are told “use it or lose it.” But is the threat...
In December 2020, the Summit County Open Space and Trails Department bought a 15-acre property with a small pond, three ditches and a well.
Known...
Unanswered questions: New Mexico looks to fossil fuel byproduct to ease pressure on freshwater...
Mario Atencio’s family never received a notification that 1,100 barrels of produced water—a byproduct of oil and gas extraction—had spilled on their allotment in...