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

Wyoming’s crowded Lonesome Lake tops EPA’s national survey for fecal contamination

LONESOME LAKE, WYOMING—Whit Coleman belly flopped with style into some of Wyoming’s most famous alpine waters on a summer day. Out on a father-son backpacking trip with friends, the Salt...

As Colorado ramps up PFAS drinking water tests, small towns brace for costly fixes

Renee Hoffman was never thrilled about the water quality at her house in Sleepy Bear Mobile Home Park on the outskirts of Steamboat Springs. “It just didn’t taste great,” she...

Denver Water is halfway through replacing lead pipes. Why didn’t this happen sooner?

On an early morning, a quiet Denver neighborhood was temporarily transformed into a construction zone. A boring machine on the road outside someone’s home pointed a long, thin drill...

Scientists Warned of a Salton Sea Disaster. No One Listened.

California’s Salton Sea offers a tableau of dead wildlife, toxic dust, and neglect. It was long in the making.

Once ‘paradise,’ parched Colorado valley grapples with arsenic in water

Decades of climate change-driven drought, combined with the overpumping of aquifers, is making the valley desperately dry — and appears to be intensifying the levels of heavy metals in drinking water.

How Hudbay’s Santa Rita mining will impact Southern Arizona’s waterways

The proposed Copper World Complex mine is carving roads and berms that will impact wildlife and waterflow.

Utah’s Suicide Pact With the Fossil Fuel Industry

The state’s fixation on oil and gas development threatens the Colorado River watershed.

$500M in new federal funds to give thousands of Coloradans freedom from lead, PFAS...

Coloradans exposed to drinking water tainted by lead or so-called “forever chemicals" will see clean water faster.

Harvesting water in arid lands – Water Buffs Podcast ep. 11 – Brad Lancaster

Brad Lancaster, author and expert on water harvesting, explains how to make the most of rainfall and greywater to stretch local supplies.

Tourist haven Grand Lake asks state to intervene in federal water quality stalemate

Grand County officials are searching for ways to prevent harmful algae blooms and weed growth in Grand Lake.