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

Does the Western Megadrought Mean the End of Cheap Cheese and Ice Cream?

Water Desk grantees Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley of the Gastropod podcast recently explored the importance of alfalfa to Western water issues and dairy products.

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.

One crop uses more than half of Utah’s water. Here’s why.

By Brian Maffly and Mark Eddington, The Salt Lake Tribune   This article is the first in a series supported by The Water Desk, an independent journalism initiative based at the University of Colorado...

Scientists in the East River watershed collect ‘mountains of data’ to understand water in...

In a first-of-its-kind project, scientists will trace snow from where it arrives in the atmosphere, to where it melts into the ground. 
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?

Lawmakers suspend attempt at legislative fix for water speculation

Colorado lawmakers have suspended an attempt to prohibit outside investors from profiting off the state’s water.

Marble quarry operators violated Clean Water Act, Army Corps of Engineers finds

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has determined that the operators of a marble quarry violated the Clean Water Act when they diverted a tributary of the Crystal River to make way for a mining road.
Madeline Ryder planting mesquite in an in-ground rainwater harvesting basin in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona. Source: Watershed Management Group

Millions of Americans lack access to running water. An ancient method of capturing rainwater...

Advocates say rainwater harvesting is a key component to improving water access and countering climate change

Interstate water wars are heating up along with the climate

Southwest Utah’s claim to Colorado River water is sparking conflict with other western states.

Who in the U.S. is in ‘plumbing poverty’? Mostly urban residents, study says

At least 1.1 million people in the United States do not have hot and cold running water in their house and a shower or tub for bathing.