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 saguaro once stood, the former...
Apache water
As the Colorado River is impacted by climate change and drought, Native American tribes are helping to find solutions. For The Water Desk, Gary Strieker reports on the Jicarilla...
Some Western cities offer residents “cash for grass” to reduce irrigation
A study in 2016 showed that lawns are the largest irrigated crop in America.
Water conservation payments to Colorado ranchers could top $120M; is it enough?
A new economic study suggests that a wide-scale water conservation program in Colorado could cost more than $120 million.
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.
New Rules
As climate change and overuse reduce water supplies, the gap between “paper water” (the legal right to use water) and “actual water” (what’s available) is widening.
Restoring the Colorado River Delta
In Mexico, where the Colorado River approaches the sea with barely a trickle, conservationists are working to restore the natural habitats of the river’s dry delta. Gary Strieker reports...
Farms use 80% of the West’s water. Some in Colorado use less, a lot...
A greenhouse in Colorado is using 95 percent less water to grow food compared to traditional agricultural practices.
Turf replacement bill gains ground
Colorado could soon have a program that would pay property owners to get rid of one of the largest water uses for Western Slope water providers: grass.
Pitkin County launches project to restore ancient wetland at North Star Preserve near Aspen
A fen-restoration project aims to enhance the wetland’s ability to provide habitat, store and filter groundwater, and sequester carbon.