Water rights

As California’s seasons become warmer and drier, state officials are pondering whether the water rights permitting system needs revising.

Colorado water officials are considering whether to designate the increasingly stressed Yampa River as over-appropriated.

Imposing hefty taxes on speculative water sales, requiring that water rights purchased by investors be held for several years before they can be resold, and requiring special state approval of such sales are three ideas that might help Colorado protect its water resources from speculators.

State engineers in the Arkansas River basin are beginning to crack down on more than 10,000 ponds without legal water rights, which they say are harming senior rights holders.

Where groundwater gives way to warm springs, a fight continues over building a new desert town outside Las Vegas.

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.

In Diamond Valley, Nevada, farmers are looking to protect their future — and testing the limits of the state’s water laws.

An Arkansas Valley watercompany has left the State of Colorado on the hook for nearly $1.4 million and may face a rare foreclosure proceeding by the Colorado Water Conservation Board as a result.

Colorado officials say ponds without water rights throughout the region are depleting the Colorado River system.

Thirsty Front Range Colorado cities continue to drive the market for South Platte River farm water with Aurora announcing two major deals to acquire farms and their water rights.