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

Rocky Mountain National Park burn photo

Funding shortfalls, bureaucratic barriers hobble efforts to restore Colorado’s fire-scarred water systems

Funding shortfalls are hobbling efforts to clean up watersheds and protect drinking water for more than 1 million Coloradans.
Crystal River photo 1

Crystal River Wild & Scenic advocates hope to learn from the past

Residents of Colorado's Pitkin County are reviving efforts to secure a Wild & Scenic designation on the Crystal River, but it won't be easy.

Upper Colorado River states add muscle as decisions loom on the shrinking river’s future

Upper basin states seek added leverage to protect their river shares amid difficult talks with California and the lower basin

Brackish groundwater is no easy water solution for Arizona

Deep below Arizona sit large volumes of water that are less salty than the ocean, but not easily used. If it were all pumped to the surface and purified, this brackish groundwater would supply Arizona’s water needs for a century or more. Problem is, it can’t all be pumped.

Forest Service flooded with comments opposing Whitney Reservoir, drilling

The vast majority of comments received by the agency opposed the proposed dam and reservoir in Western Colorado.

New era? Western cities using wetland parks, stormwater capture and mobile wastewater collection

Western cities are using new tactics to address shrinking water supplies due to drought and population growth.

10 visuals that show how climate change is transforming the West’s snow and water...

The latest National Climate Assessment warns of a shrinking snowpack and serious downstream consequences.

Video: Five years after the Gold King Mine spill

Environmental correspondent Laura Paskus revisits the Gold King Mine spill and the destructive impact of the toxic orange plume that went flowing down the Animas and San Juan rivers five years ago.
precipitation map ecowest

Map: monthly average precipitation

This map shows total rain and snowfall in the contiguous United States, every month from 1981 to the present. The map's color scale runs from white (no precipitation), to blue (significant precipitation) to red (intense...

As the Salton Sea shrinks, it leaves behind a toxic reminder of the cost...

Scientists fear that eventually the toxic residue of more than a century of agricultural runoff will be blown into the air — and into the lungs of residents.