An initiative of the Center for Environmental Journalism at the University of Colorado Boulder

As more sanitation districts test wastewater for COVID-19, questions remain on interpreting the data

Wastewater can inform public health departments of new variants in the community, but the data collected is still inconclusive.

Data viz: explore our interactive dashboards for drought, precipitation and snowpack

These maps and visualizations let you interact with vital data on our water supply.

Feds: Colorado River’s Flaming Gorge Reservoir able only to deliver two more emergency water...

As drought and climate change sap the Colorado River, even the water in the Upper Basin’s high-elevation reservoirs isn’t enough to protect the larger system.
Maroon Bells Snowpack

Melting away in a hot drought

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.

A Colorado River flows drop and tensions rise, water interests struggle to find solutions...

Experts warn that climate change has rendered old assumptions outdated about what the Colorado River can provide, leaving painful water cuts as the only way forward.

Data vis for water journalism – Water Buffs Podcast ep. 1 – Geoff McGhee

We talk with Water Desk consultant Geoff McGhee about some of the ways that data visualizations can help journalists tell stories about water. We discuss dashboards on our website that allow users to track and analyze data on drought, precipitation, the snowpack and major dams and reservoirs.
Ute Water Assistant Manager Greg Williams shows a map where the domestic water provider plans to build Buzzard Creek Reservoir and Owens Creek Reservoir. Cities, conservancy districts, energy companies and private citizens have conditional water rights to build 99 new reservoirs over 5,000 acre-feet on the Western Slope. Photo by William Woody

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 Western Slope’s largest domestic water...

The Colorado River is awash in data vital to its management, but making sense...

A major science report that highlights scientific shortcomings and opportunities in the Basin could aid water managers as they rewrite the river's operating rules.

Data centers a small, but growing factor in Arizona’s water budget

BUCKEYE, Ariz. – It was supposed to be called Cipriani, a master planned community with more than 9,700 homes at the western fringe of this sprawling desert city in...

Studying the snowpack in a changing climate – Water Buffs Podcast ep. 5 – Noah...

The snowpack is crucial to the West’s water supply, ecosystems and economy. But climate change threatens to make the region’s snowpack thinner and less reliable. We talk to a leading snowpack researcher about how scientists are analyzing the past, present and future of the West’s snow.