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

Construction workers build a single family home in Castle Rock photo

Fast-growing Douglas County communities need more water. Is a controversial San Luis Valley export...

Douglas County commissioners consider spending $10 million to help finance a controversial San Luis Valley farm water export proposal.

Rancher grapples with abandonment listing

The Fetcher Ranch, like many in Colorado, is struggling with an abandonment policy that may strip water rights from the land.

A Colorado River Veteran Takes on the Top Water & Science Post at Interior...

Tanya Trujillo brings two decades of experience on Colorado River issues as she takes on the challenges of a river basin stressed by climate change.
Morrisania Mesa Ditch photo

Popular ditch inventories remain private despite being publicly funded

Is Colorado’s most precious resource a public good or a private property right?
Greeley No. 2 Canal photo

Special Report: Climate change is sapping Colorado’s water supplies. Can its hallmark water law...

Is prior appropriation up to the task of divvying up the state’s water in an era of increasingly frequent and severe drought conditions?
The Colorado River flows towards Horsethief Canyon photo

Special Report: As Lake Powell hits record lows, is filling a new drought pool...

The drought pool would be filled voluntarily, largely by farmers and ranchers, who would be paid to temporarily dry up their fields.
Colorado lawmakers have approved a bill to help regions comply with obligations to deliver water to Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and New Mexico.

Bill providing millions in relief to Republican, Rio Grande river basins clears first hurdle

Colorado lawmakers have approved a bill to help regions comply with obligations to deliver water to Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and New Mexico.
Kremmling rancher and fly-fishing guide Paul Bruchez photo

Kremmling rancher picked to replace Schwartz on state water board

Gov. Polis has appointed Kremmling rancher Paul Bruchez to replace former state Sen. Gail Schwartz on the Colorado Water Conservation Board.

Troubled waters

Confronted with the specter of a New Mexico parched by climate change, some have begun to push back against a water model that focuses primarily on putting as much water to use as possible.
Some of the snowmelt flowing in the Blue River as it joins the Colorado River photo

State officials gear up for “difficult conversations” on the Colorado River

The seven U.S. states that share Colorado River water will soon renegotiate water management guidelines.